Damn Yankees ~ Don't Tread (album review) ... Ted Nugent at his monster rock best!

Style: hard rock
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1992
Home: n/a

Members: Tommy Shaw ~ vocals/guitars
Ted Nugent ~ guitars/vocals
Jack Blades ~ bass/vocals
Michael Cartellone ~ drums

Additional: Robbie Buchanan ~ keyboards
Tower of Power ~ horns
Paul Buckmaster ~ strings

This album was a guilty pleasure when I first heard it. I'm a Yankee of two centuries, so the name immediately caught my eye, while I liked the single I heard on the radio, "Where You Goin' Now." I didn't need much more incentive to investigate, particularly as I was at an age where I wanted to hear everything & anything that was musical. I'll confess I didn't know Ted Nugent, nor could I tell you what hits Styx had to their name. Nor had I heard D.Y.'s even more commercially successful debut album. If I had heard the single from that album, "High Enough," I didn't know it was the same band. Many critics call that debut the better of their two albums, yet, stepping back from nostalgia & listening again as I write this, I think this is in many ways just as good as the debut. Really, they have different attributes. I think this album is more even & uniform musically than the debut. That album always struck me as a band exploring, not quite sure what their sound was. Yet, I will give it credit for being the more musically diverse album. Second, where this lacks diversity, it makes up that by packing a huge guitar swingin' groin thrustin' punch in the gut that I never got on the debut. The songs are all strong, though at times blending together, but never take the foot off the pedal. The dynamics & energy are cranked up high here, while the layers of sound rope you in & keep you in for the full ride. This is a monster rock album, maybe hair metal excess at its extreme best, where its failures are lifted up by its strengths. Ted Nugent shines in all his charismatic bigger than life glory with one amazing solo after another. He single-highhandedly catapults the album from its AOR basics to a high flying trapeze act of hair wavin' rock. I've heard most of his catalog & rate his work with D.Y. as some of his best.

Night Ranger ~ 7 Wishes (album review) ... My one wish is you hear this forgotten AOR delight!

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.

Night Ranger ~ Somewhere In California (album review) ... Somewhere in California are the songs!

Style: hard rock
Label: Century Media
Year: 2011
Home: n/a

Members: Jack Blades ~ bass/vocals
Kelly Keagy ~ drums/vocals
Joel Hoekstra ~ guitars
Brad Gillis ~ guitars/vocals
Eric Levy ~ keyboards

NR is one of those bands I never thought I'd be listening to a new album by them. Let alone acknowledge that a new album has brought their name right back into the media like a bomb. Considering, for most of us they're a one hit wonder with "Sister Christian", a song many can't remember until they hear the opening. But, I guess, when it comes to one hit wonders from the past, the rules are broken nowadays & everyone gets a second chance. I've found myself listening to a lot of comebacks, such as Stryper, Tygers of Pang, Cinderella, Journey, Yes, Devo, Heart, The Cars & for the most part many of them have come out with some good music. Though, many of the reunited 80's bands were not very original in the beginning, as let's be honest that hair metal is a limited template few rose above but many imitated too well. So, most of these comebacks sound nothing like the band they once were, even barring new members, ... now they sound like so many of the alt rock heavy metal bands on the scene. So, they go from one cliché to another. It's a shame. Are they that desperate to have a hit that they'd rather sound like everyone else rather than do something that stands out over the long term? Or, at this point do they not care just as long as they can play again? So few are really trying to climb highs. Some have chosen not to change their sound very much, such as the Cars & Devo, but others are just jumping on the bandwagon like they did once upon a time. The high ends up being talk about the comeback, not the music itself. As for the return of NT some reviewers say its a good album. Certainly I agree in the sense that it has some powerful fire breathing guitar solos, courtesy new face Joel Hoekstra of Trans-Siberian Orchestra & the Rock Of Ages Broadway show. But, the material isn't anything necessarily amazing. They've certainly done better & I've read they've done much worse. The material just isn't strong & memorable. It's like many bands - they've come back with a good reinvented sound & really that's all that counts, let alone that they've come back. We give the outcome some slack because the band has done their time & should get some kudos. Though, really, the test of a band will be if we're listening over & over. Then, we give them truly deserved kudos. This is an album for guitar freaks as the fingers fly fast in trills & runs like there's no tomorrow, but its relatively over the top & often shallow & for that I was rather disappointed & I think others will be too. It's the Rock Of Ages world of shallow party rock for the beach. I have trouble finding any soul to connect with to make it more than that. It's not shallow like Kiss's love songs, or overly melodramatic, just a lot of big riffs. There's some fun rock songs (i.e. title track, "Lay It On Me," "Follow Your Heart," "No Time To Lose Ya", "Live For Today"), but fun is basically the key word. So, I guess, if you can't get Bon Jovi then get NR for your house party. Of note, this is the first album with guitarist Brad Gillis & keyboardist Eric Levy.

Ozzy Osbourne ~ The Ozzman Cometh (hits comp) (album review) ... Open the door & let the Prince of Darkness in!

Style: compilation, greatest hits, heavy metal
Label: Epic
Year: 1997
Home: England

Musicians: Ozzy Osbourne ~ vocals
Randy Rhoads, Zakk Wylde, Brad Gillis, Jake E. Lee ~ guitar
Rudy Sarzo, Bob Daisley, Phil Soussan, Mike Inez, Geezer Butler, Robert Trujillo ~ bass
Lee Kerslake, Tommy Aldridge, Randy Castillo, Deen Castronovo, Mike Bordin ~ drums
Johnny Cook, Don Airey, Mike Moran, John Sinclair, Kevin Jones, Rick Wakeman ~ keyboards

The demos of "Black Sabbath" & "War Pigs," followed by: "Goodbye To Romance," "Crazy Train," "Mr. Crowley," "Over The Mountain," a live version of "Paranoid," "Bark At The Moon," "Shot In The Dark," "Crazy Babies," "No More Tears," "Mama, I'm Coming Home," a live version of "I Don't Want To Change The World," "I Just Want You" & "Back On Earth" with a bonus disc that includes an artist interview & basement tape recordings of "Fairies Wear Boots" & "Behind The Wall Of Sleep." Need I say more? If you know these songs you know how good this greatest hits album is. If you don't know the songs then you're obviously not a metalhead & here's the CD to start your metal path on. & if you only know Ozzy from his clown role on tv then you don't know Ozzy. These are the songs that have made him the Prince of Darkness. There's a few hits that aren't on this compilation, such as "Flying High Again," "Close Your Eyes Forever" with Lita Ford & "Miracle Man," but that would almost be splitting hairs & just complaining for the sake of it because what here is the best of the best for the casual fan wanting a taste of a musical god not a hard-core collector. If you don't like Ozzy after listening to this ... give up now cause you're never going to like him. Further, you're not worthy to be called a metalhead. Ozzy has more certifiable hits, dare I say metal classics even, than most of his solo musician contemporaries who have been around just as long & that's excluding his Black Sabbath catalog. I dare anyone to challenge this assertion. What's more amazing is that this package starts with his solo debut Blizzard Of Ozz from 1980 & ends in 1995 with Ozzmosis, thus excluding the great albums he's made since is chock full of more amazing metal. Most musicians would die just to have half of this collection to their name. Actually, the fact that this album includes 4 Black Sabbath songs, probably the idea of the sales department knowing that many of us would already have all these songs on their original releases, are sprinkle on an already perfect tasting cake & I'm saying this as a Black Sabbath fan too whose eyes pop out at the words demo version. Actually, honestly, the demo tracks with their poor production actually hurt the album as they are not reflective either of the other songs or Ozzy's solo career, particularly since they open it & take nearly 18 minutes to get through. But, But, what I particularly like about this collection is that it goes in chronological order so you clearly hear the progression of the Ozzy sound which is interesting in itself. Though, note, this album was reissued in 2002 as a single disc with "Shot In The Dark" replaced by "Miracle Man" & the 1980-81 songs have their rhythm section re-recorded by Ozzy's 2002 line-up due to unpaid royalties legal action. A sad footnote. But, anyways, I'm looking forward to Vol. II in another 20 years. Ozzy forever!