Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

The moniker One Man hides the identity of Dez Dickerson who was Prince's lead guitarist in the late '70s/early '80s and if you're familiar with the "1999" video, he's the dude in the red bandana! Dez became a Christian whilst touring with Prince and after continuing in the band eventually reached a point where he felt he needed to quit. A solo album was promised for many years but never appeared and Dez disappeared to work in A&R for a Christian label before starting his own record company and finally pulling together his best work on this debut solo offering. It's aptly titled 'One Man' since Dez plays just about everything on the recording. As you'd expect this is one extremely hot rock album and you get chunky riffs on "For You For Me" and the heaviosity of "Peacehopejoy" and "East Coast/West Coast" (reminiscent of recent Glenn Hughes recordings). So the man can slog it out in a rock arena with the best of them but there's also another side to Dickerson highlighted by the soulful Prince-like "Maybe Tonight" and the intriguing title song built on an understated guitar riff. Here's a man with soul and rock'n'roll! "This Song" is a drink of encouragement for the broken whilst "Like A Merry Go Round" draws from the same pool of '60s music as Lenny Kravitz to whom it bears a resemblance. The closing song "Real To Me" acts as a sort of doxology putting everything that has preceded it into perspective. Dickerson is hugely talented, this album shows that it's still possible to make compelling rock music which touches the soul and it's a crime that no one has thought to release it over here!

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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