Jerusalem - Dancing on the Head of the Serpent. 1988 Refuge (LP) (1987). Continuing on with the Christian hard rock albums I've found recently. Sweden's Jerusalem was on their 5th album with this super great title, and even better cover art. Based on both, I thought I was in for a heavy duty metal album. Unfortunately the music sticks to standard issue 80s hard rock. The album starts like fellow countrymen Europe on The Final Countdown with brash synthesizers, and the hard rocking guitars are of a similar pitch. Nothing too heavy and very family friendly. The lyrics are once again hardcore Christian with no middle ground. There's some decent guitar work, but overall this sounds like a very average 80s hard rock album. (9/11)
Joe Satriani - Not of This Earth. 1986 Relativity (LP). I don't have much history with Satriani, having only heard his 1988 EP and 1995 self-titled album, and both of those are recent listens. His next album, Surfing With the Alien, was his big breakthrough, and I do remember it getting quite a bit of radio airplay for an instrumental rock work. But I have yet to hear the album (the CD is here patiently awaiting its turn - though perhaps an LP will arrive ahead of that moment). When I bought this album as part of a larger collection at the flea market, I just presumed it to be another Joe Satriani album. I had no idea it was his debut. Well, that captured my attention more than usual. Satriani is certainly working hard here, mixing in various styles, while showing off his considerable chops. The rhythm section, however, is mailing it in. Whether that was by design so as to not get in the way of Satriani's guitar, or just the sound of the times when rhythms were more static, it remains a bad decision. I like the tone he achieves on B2, something I would have liked to have heard more. Certainly this is a respectable debut by an artist that today is legend, but few knew who he was back then. I'm going to move it out, but glad to have heard it on a focused listen. (9/4)
TKO - Let It Roll. 1979 Infinity (LP). TKO were a band from Seattle who managed to eke out three albums back in the day before showing up at various live festivals in more modern times. Bonehead hard edged AOR rock is the order of the day, much different than the metal band they were to become (no idea if they're any good). It seems the band has talent, but they decided not to use it. All the songs are generic begging-to-be-played-on-the-radio tracks that lack any kind of creativity. Throw nine pieces of wet mud against the wall hoping something would stick. They got slop instead. Weak entry. (9/4)
*The Daniel Band - On Rock. 1982 Lamb & Lion (LP). I recently brought in a pile of Christian hard rock and metal LPs from two different thrift shop buys, all in beautiful shape. Some of them sounded pretty good on a sample, so I'll start here (actually I started with Barnabas about a month ago, but didn't pen any notes). The Daniel Band are from Toronto, and their sound here is heavy duty hard rock with a touch of pomp prog. There's nothing 80s about it. They remind me of mid to late 70s Triumph quite a bit, including the vocalist. They even look the part with long hair, beards, and bigotes. The guitar soloing is very good here, recalling many a Midwest private press. The keyboards add that late 70s AOR touch that I'm fond of. Lyrically this is a strong Christian message album, so if you can't handle that, you'll need to steer clear. They're all in with no breaks. I think church would have been packed with youths on Sundays with music like this back in the day. But noooo, we got the pipe organ, choirs, and "we're not worthy" styled hymns. Lutherans, a stoic lot they are ("Dad, can we please go home now, the Cowboys are on at noon"). The Daniel Band are way more fun. I kept one of the Barnabas albums, and I'll keep this as a good representative of Christian hard rock. (9/4)
R.I.F.F.S. - Rockin' in Free Flying Spirit. 1998 private (CD). Based on the title and booklet I presumed I might be in for a Christian metal album. The first track delivered on that premise recalling Warlock and Doro Pesch. Vocalist Marisa Austen has a powerful and beautiful voice. But they toned down considerably on the second song. By the 3rd track it seems that RIFFS are a hard rock band with AOR sensibilities. FFAOR in hipster parlance. Plenty of keyboards too. It's a diverse album and the last track even has a couple of references to progressive rock. The band were from Denver, and that's where I found this obscure CD languishing in a thrift shop. (7/29)
Y & T - Open Fire. 1985 A&M (LP). Y and T on A and M. Sounds like a first grade classroom. And musically that's a good metaphor too. I remember when Y & T originally burst onto the radio scene with Earthshaker, which was their 3rd album and the first to drop their original moniker of Yesterday and Today. I seem to recall it being quite good but not enough to pluck down $7 of my hard earned high school dollars. I recently scooped up Open Fire at an estate sale, and since I have no familiarity at all with their songs, this will be one live album I'll check out beginning to end. Like with The Firm below, the album appears to appeal to the most basic of the hard rock audience. A perennial opening act who had way more talent to display but chose the easy party route instead. (7/20)
The Firm - Means Business. 1986 Atlantic (LP). I could have sworn I'd heard the first album and not this title. But according to my journal, it was six years ago that I last had this album in my possession. It's easy to see why I forgot about it. The Firm is Jimmy Page teaming up with Paul Rodgers and sounding mysteriously like... Bad Company. About as ordinary of a hard rock album as they come, if you could even call it "hard". Seems every band in the 80s were working hard to get MTV airplay at the expense of crafting some quality music. In other words, as the band suggests, just another day at the Office. Jimmy and Paul, label execs say we need more revenue, so go get it. (6/6)
* - Keeping for the collection
