Take a moment to appreciate the genius that is Johnny Lima, and long may he continue releasing such wonderful material.

After Johnny Lima released the excellent 'Livin' Out Loud' in 2009, there were murmurings that would be his last album. Thankfully, those fears were unfounded and 2014 sees Lima release his most accomplished work to date with 'My Revolution'.

Recorded without the backing of a label, and hard copies only made thanks to a highly successful Indiegogo pledge campaign, this fifteen track opus sees Lima in the form of his life. Quite how he can make as great a sounding album as this on such a limited budget is quite unbelievable, and '... Revolution' puts many a signed release to shame.

Opening up with the title track, the building intro is quite cinematic before the vocals burst in and give us one if the most intense, rocking tracks Lima has ever written. This is immediately followed up with the massively contagious and Hard Rocking 'Happily Ever After You' (Lima has such a wicked humour with words!), a very close cousin to 'My Country Tis of Thee' from 1999's 'Shine On'.

I guess the most contentious track will be the sleazy, made for strip-joints 'Fill You Up', Lima's touching ode to fellatio. This really is possibly the most modern sounding song he has ever recorded, the distorted electronica keyboard intro riff marrying a massive guitar hook before the words come crawling out the speakers, salacious and licentious, leaving you feeling in need of a hot shower to cleanse yourself – but what a ride!
Lima doesn't really enjoy the comparisons to Bon Jovi, but when you are presented with such awesome JBJ flavoured songs as 'Blame It On Love', 'Couldn't Be The One' and the sumptuous ballads 'I Can't Love You Anymore' and 'Maybe You're Right, Maybe It's Wrong', then it's really a moot point. And when the Jovi guys lost the plot (and hooks) years ago, this will do very nicely indeed.

Early Def Leppard gets a nod via 'Dirty Girls', with its achingly familiar riff, and 'Show Them Who You Are', possibly the most disposable song on an album full of highlights. But elsewhere it's pure 100% Johnny Lima, with attitude, melody and hooks displayed in unbelievable abundance!

The proposed eleven track sell through edition would arguably have been a more concise and consistently brilliant release, but this fifteen track limited edition has nary a bad, or even average, song on it, and as such represents astounding value for money, so get it while you can. In the meantime, just take a moment to appreciate the genius that is Johnny Lima, and long may he continue releasing such wonderful material.

Bruce Mee