Style: hard rock, AOR
Year: 1985
Label: MCA
Home: San Francisco, California
Members: Jack Blades ~ bass, lead vocals
Kelly Keagy ~ drums/lead vocals
Brad Gillis, Jeff Watson ~ guitars
Alan Fitzgerald ~ keyboards/b. vocals
Additional: Vince Neil, Tommy Lee, Kevin Charles, David Sykes, Fishdog ~ b. vocals
Aside from their classic "Sister Christian", I've only heard Night Ranger's 2011 album Somewhere In California with original members Jack Blades, Brad Gillis, & Kelly Keagy, plus guitarist Joel Hoekstra & keyboardist Eric Levy. In my review I said it was chock full of wild guitar playing one expects from Hoekstra, but for me it was more about the guitar fireworks than memorable songs. Out of curiosity I now decided to go back into time with their third album & classic line-up. Coming in the shadow of "Sister Christian," this album hit number 10 & featured numerous singles. It continued their transition into a popular arena touring band. First, you can't judge a band on one song. If you don't believe me than tell me what music you might hear from Guns N' Roses after hearing only "My World" or the Rolling Stones after "Might As Well Get Juiced" or Queen after "Body Language." I once knew someone who didn't listen to the Stones as she didn't like country music, having only heard one song from them. "Sister Christian" I listened to before hearing this, but it didn't really give me any preparation of what the band sounds like, other than they basically have set the bar high for power ballads. I'm also 100% sure they didn't make an entire album of these types songs. So, what did they do & what did I find? Well, you can't judge them at all via that one song. Don't try. They also didn't make an album trying to do that song ten more times.What they do is some great melodic rock & I like many of these songs better. The title track opens the album & is a funky & lyrically mystical song you'll want to hear over & over. The band is a super melodic AOR outing with layers of keyboards & guitars that mesh everything together in something more like Survivor or Supertramp or less proggy Asia, than the L.A. glam scene some might lump them in with. The keyboards get as much time as the guitars & its creates a whole new feeling compared to what other bands were doing in 1985. The result is a really good pop AOR outing that feels more about creating great songs than knocking your face off with big vocals & big guitars. Every rock keyboardist needs to listen to this to prove to their band mates how to use the piano as more than a backing instrument or something just to introduce songs with. If its not obvious I liked this classic outing much more than Somewhere In California.
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