Beggars & Thieves – We Are The Brokenhearted (2011)

I have to admit that Beggars & Thieves is a band that I forgot about several years ago.  I had their 1990 debut on cassette, and never got around to replacing it.  Thanks to Beggars & Thieves new CD, I am thankfully getting reacquainted with the band’s music.

I didn’t know what to expect with We Are the Brokenhearted, and I have to admit I have been enjoying this CD quite a bit.  The music of Beggars & Thieves is guitar oriented melodic rock.  The music is not over powered by keyboards. It isn’t too heavy, but it is definitely not on the mellow side either. The music is just rocking enough to be interesting, but smooth enough to appeal to pretty much everyone. ( I believe Beggars & Thieves could create their own genre of smooth rock.)

Singer Louie Merlino has a terrific voice which is bolstered by the excellent guitar licks of Ronnie Mancuso.   The whole band is solid, and they have crafted some very fine tunes on this CD.

Some of the album highlights include the songs “Beautiful Losers”,  “Seven Seconds”, “Stranded” and “Midnight Blue”.  I love the saxophone that closes out the title track “We Are The Brokenhearted”.  I just wish there was more of it.  “We Are the Brokenhearted is a really cool tune to close the album out with”. Quite frankly, there really isn’t a bad song in the bunch.

We Are the Brokenhearted is easily one of the best melodic rock CD’s I have heard in 2011.   If you have forgotten about this band the way I did, We Are the Brokenhearted has 10 outstanding reasons to get to know the band again. Don’t miss this!!!

1 We Come Undone
2 Oil & Water
3 Innocence
4 Never Gonna See You Again
5 Beautiful Losers
6 Seven Seconds
7 Stranded
8 Wash Away
9 Midnight Blue
10 We Are The Brokenhearted

Louie Merlino: Vocals
Ronnie Mancuso: Guitars
Erik Gloege: Drums
Blake Newman: Bass