ALBUM OF THE WEEK - "SECOND HAND LIFE"

SECOND HAND LIFE recorded at Voodooland Studios in New Jersey was released on Frontiers Records in 2007.

Read in Joe’s own words where the album title came from and how the title track was written.

“I was doing quite a few recording sessions with many other artists at the time when I was called by Desmond Child to add my vocals to a CD that he was producing for the great Australian singer, Jimmy Barnes, the album was called 'Freight Train Heart' and we worked in New York City at the Power Station, a very famous studio in its time. Desmond Child was an amazing writer / producer - he had co-written most of Bon Jovi's and Aerosmith’s hits and many other artists of the era. We started writing together and came up with the ballad titled 'Walk On' for Jimmy's album. (I later did a version of it myself).

Anyway...the important thing was that Desmond and I got along great. We had special interests in common on subjects like the supernatural, paranormal, philosophy and a host of different relevant topics. He gave me a small book called 'Second Hand Life', he was living on a commune in Virginia and this was written by the head leader. Basically it was an account of how we are all living another person’s life because we are influenced by our surroundings and environment and the people in it. Parents, teachers. religious leaders, politicians etc are all part of what makes up our personalities ,opinions and decisions. Of course this is only touching on the top of the teachings but you can get the idea of how these influences can greatly shape our lives.

I knew there was a song in it somewhere so I just happened to be in Chicago working with Jim Peterik of Survivor fame doing some vocals. Peterik is another amazing writer and performer and a long-time friend and associate. I explained the theory of second hand life to him and he immediately agreed we should write the song. It's a very special track for me because I believe in the teachings. We must create our own selves after the world of influence has made us a certain way. We can change, shape and control who and what we want to be if we work hard and are 
truly conscious of our behavior...something worth thinking about”. JLT