During the winter of 2004 former HELLOWEEN singer Michael Kiske, whose voice is still nowadays regarded as one of the most fascinating of the whole scene in Rock, accepted to be part of a Melodic Rock oriented concept patronized by Frontiers Records’ President Serafino Perugino. The resulting PLACE VENDOME debut album brought Kiske back to a more straight ahead and Rock sound, still very accessible and melodic and far from the Heavy Metal stereotypes of blood, violence and hate from which Kiske decided to move away from. He collaborated for the first time with PINK CREAM 69’s Dennis Ward, Kosta Zafiriou and Uwe Reitenauer with Gunther Werno (VANDENPLAS) on keyboards. In a quite ironic twist of fate Michael found himself to work with members of PINK CREAM 69, when the band’s original singer Andy Deris took his place in HELLOWEEN when he left. In Kiske’s view “Without Serafino Perugino offering me this Place Vendome project, I would probably never have sung a few of the musical styles on there up to this day (also in terms of lyrics), because my own songwriting is different. But I have found it exactly because of that reason interesting to do: it's like playing roles or testing possibilities. To sing songs you did not write has its own quality: you can learn something here you otherwise probably wouldn't and get a chance to look beyond your own borders. AOR won't ''revolutionize'' our music-world these days, but it is certainly fun to sing and people seemed to have enjoyed the first Place Vendome a lot. It did pretty well and also received surprisingly good reviews all over the world”.
The very favorable acceptance of the first PLACE VENDOME album planted the seeds for a second recording which was recorded during 2008. The songs this time were supplied by different songwriters, particularly motivated and enthusiast to be part of this new album. Torsti Spoof (Leverage) offered “Dancer”, “Changes”, “Believer” and the title-track “Streets of Fire”. Ronny Milianowicz (Saint Deamon and songwriter for Primal Fear) wrote “Surrender Your Soul”, “Completely Breathless” and “A Scene In Replay”, while Robert Sall (Work of Art, W.E.T) supplied “Follow Me” and “Valerie”. The production and the musicians’ team have anyway remained unchanged with Ward, Zafiriou, Reitenauer and Werno supplying all the necessary musicianship and skill to make this new album a success. “This second one appears to be even more AOR for my ears. It was also (again) very interesting for me to see how different a song sounded after I did the vocals” says Michael, adding “When Serafino sent me the songs one by one as demos, I sometimes secretly thought: OK, nice tune, painless and sweet, but it could also be a bit better. But after I did the vocals and Dennis Ward produced it in his own way with his guys, that impression changed and I am always surprised at how good it actually turns out in the end! This shows once more the importance of 'HOW' we do things”.
A promo videoclip for the song” My Guardian Angel” (written by Magnus Karlsson) is included as a special interactive bonus on the album and marks Michael Kiske’s visual return on the scene after years of a self-imposed exile. A record that marks a strong beginning of the year in Melodic Rock and brings back again Michael Kiske to the spotlight that he truly deserves as an artist and performer.
“Streets of Fire” final tracklisting includes:
Streets Of Fire; My Guardian Angel; Completely Breathless; Follow Me; Set Me Free; Believer; Valerie; A Scene In Replay; Changes; Surrender Your Soul; Dancer; I’d Die For You. My Guardian Angel (bonus videoclip).
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