Here at the Send Me Your Ears studio we’ve been listening to Gary Dranow’s single, Destiny Road, released on December 3, 2022. Our readers will recall that it’s only been a couple of days since we reviewed his single, (Made It) Another Day. Destiny Road is a more 70s-tinged blues rock track with copious amounts of Classic Rock influence. It is the title track to their forthcoming EP.
Of Destiny Road, Dranow says “I had a very vivid dream in 1996. I could see myself in a dream state in Emerald coloured hills far away. Also in the dream, I met a world traveller and we fell in love. I woke up the next morning and immediately wrote Destiny Road. In 1998, on a whim, I put my house in Manhattan Beach, California up for sale, and it sold in one day.”
Destiny road hits you with a 70s classic rock wall of sound the moment it starts. A guitar solo leads into the vocals and the track feels a little Gary Moore in style. There are some lovely picked acoustic guitar parts between vocal sections and the guitars are nicely stereo.
A distant Hammond organ adds to the authenticity of the 70s feel and fills out the sound nicely. We enjoyed the plethora of guitar solos throughout this track, each feeling slightly different in tone and style, helping to keep those classic rock fans engaged.
We enjoyed the subtle harmonies in the choruses. These also filled out the sound nicely and bolstered the lead vocals. There were moments in the song where we were reminded of Jonny Lang, whilst other sections led towards comparisons with Jethro Tull or early Led Zeppelin.
Ideas from our ears.
A cut at 70Hz would reduce some ‘boominess’ in the bass. A couple of cuts around 250Hz and again around 800-850Hz would reduce some ‘muddy’ and ‘honky/nasal’ tones too. A fairly large boost in the top two octaves would add some brightness and clarity. The vocals are quite bright in comparison to the backing track so a single-band compressor in the top two octaves with maybe ~5dB of make-up gain would help control any peaks in that area. Finally, a light compressor/limiter and maybe ~5dB of make-up gain would thicken up the mix and add some extra volume overall. As always, these are just some ideas from our ears.
Final thoughts
For fans of Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, Gary Moore and Classic Rock-tinged songs, you can’t go wrong with Destiny Road. Drenched in guitar solos and nostalgia.