Ludwig Hart – Ludwig Hart/Paloma/Stay Young Vinyl Review

 

I really like the way this musician describes his music, because it is called “Get-in-the-car-and-just-drive”-rock according to him! Anyway, the Swedish guitarist/singer/songwriter LUDWIG HART is an undiscovered talented musician from Sweden. He has already released 3 albums and I am somewhat surprised I haven’t heard or seen a lot about him over here, because his music is of an exceptional high quality that belongs somewhere between 80s American AOR/Poprock and Modern Americana rootsy radiorock. It’s kinda like melting BRYAN ADAMS, THE WAR ON DRUGS and BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN. The result is an enjoyable journey through the 3 albums he released since 2019.

 

I received his 3 studio albums on vinyl, so I could have a rather good listen to this sensational musician. Starting with his same titled debut from 2019, opener Purpose Of Love is a superb piece of midtempo 80s American AOR/Poprock that reminds me of BRYAN ADAMS, RED RIDER/TOM COCHRANE, TOM KIMMEL, RUSSELL, COREY HART and REFUGEE/MYLES HUNTER. Following A Dream I Keep Returning To is a lovely crystal clear uptempo AOR/Poprocker with another radiohit ready catchy chorus that shows what an incredible singer Ludwig is. The song itself has a cool uptempo cheerful beat and a melodic soaring guitar solo. Of course modern bands like THE WAR ON DRUGS, BEAR’S DEN, THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM and L.A. EDWARDS follow the same route a bit, but where those acts give it an Americana/Rootsy Rock touch a la TOM PETTY/BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, while Ludwig is more going the AOR direction somehow, although later on the album he does the PETTY/SPRINGSTEEN a bit more. I have no idea how and where did Ludwig hide himself these past 6 years since the release of his same titled debut, because he is delivering some of the best AOR/Radiorock I have heard in ages! If it was 1985 this guy would have been huge for sure! Other highlights on his debut are Cowboys and Eyes Wide Shut. There are also calmer moments to be find where the Americana singer-songwriter orientated work is upfront, such as during Helpless, Silver Man (here he sounds a bit like ROBERT TEPPER vocally speaking), River, Lakes & Hills (calm song like RICK SPRINGFIELD did in the 90s) and Dance On Your Graves.

 

Following album Paloma follows the same path, so here we have another great mix of catchy 80s AOR/Poprock and modern Americana/Rootsy rock. Besides Ludwig on vocals, guitars and synths, we can also hear several other musicians, such as bassist/guitarist Emil Kreivi, guitarist/synthesizer player Oskar Nyman, drummer Daniel Kreivi, pianoplayer/saxplayer Karl Lundberg and guitarist Theo Stocks. Emil also helps in the production and songwriting part of the record. Album opener Slow Motion Running shows rightaway that Ludwig continues delivering radiorock classics in the best 80s American rock format. This is close to BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN circa Born In The USA, and even includes a cool retro 80s saxsolo. Following Stuck On You is 80s melodic poprock all the way, kinda like a mix between BRYAN ADAMS circa Reckless and RICK SPRINGFIELD’s early 80s records, while also REFUGEE (the Canadian band is not far away). I actually think that if you like PRISM’s later records, HARLEQUIN and such Canadian lightweight AOR/Poprock you will also enjoy this a lot! Other highlights on his 2nd album are the smooth westcoast ish 8-Track Lover, the catchy uptempo radioready 80s synth driven hit Bloodshot Eyes, and the cool cover of the 80s classic The Boys Of Summer of DON HENLEY (which now actually sounds like LOVERBOY!). Although I refer to AOR, fans of THE WAR ON DRUGS and THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM will of course also like this musician, so it’s actually the best of both worlds here! This 2nd album has the synths a bit more upfront by the way, which gives it a real retro 80s vibe.

Then there’s Ludwig’s most recent album, which is titled Stay Young, originally released in 2024. Just like the previous 2 albums, also here we have the 80s rock vibe going on. It’s melting PETTY, SPRINGSTEEN, SPRINGFIELD, COUGAR and ADAMS in a way it sounds like LUDWIG HART! More or less the same team as on the previous record, although a few more guest musicians helping him out, but again multi-instrumentalist EMIL KREIVI co-writing and co-producing the record. The album starts surprisingly with the Power Ballad Stay Young, where Ludwig shows his excellent vocal skills. Many highlights again, but the absolute favorite songs (according to me) are the classic 80s midtempo AOR/Melodic Rock anthem Journey (even reminding me of WORK OF ART, H.E.A.T., NESTOR and such Swedish bands, with a chorus a la HEARTLAND! Besides a deadly catchy chorus, 80s rock riffs, it also has a cool bridge like in the classic 80s AOR days), Boys Gone Wild (pure BRYAN ADAMS uptempo fun melodic poprock), What If (catchy classic Springsteen working class tune), the uptempo cheerful Don’t Stop and the superb midtempo AOR tune Less I Try (JOHN WAITE meets JOHN PARR!). Although the Americana influences are a little bit pushed to the back here, the closing tracks of side A and side B do capture some really nice calmer Americana moments. This is definitely his best album so far! It has a bright fresh huge sound and it’s especially highly recommended to the fans of American 80s AOR/Poprock.

Concluded, LUDWIG HART is a name to remember for the future to come, and hopefully he will have a break outside Sweden someday soon, because I think live these bangers will go down very well.

There’s a lot of competition out there at the moment however, because countless bands follow the same 80s ish melodic rock direction nowadays (especially in The Netherlands), but Ludwig definitely deserves at least some attention for his excellent catchy albums he has released in the past 6 years. 

 

Written by: Gabor Kleinbloesem

Ratings: Gabor   9/10