Band:
Jack Blades – bass guitar, lead & backing vocals
Kelly Keagy – drums, percussion, backing & lead vocals
Brad Gillis – lead & rhythm guitars, backing vocals
Joel Hoekstra – lead & rhythm guitars, backing vocals
Eric Levy – keyboards, piano, backing vocals
Discography:
Dawn Patrol (1982)
Midnight Madness (1983)
Seven Wishes (1985)
Big Life (1987)
Man in Motion (1988)
Feeding off the Mojo (1995)
Neverland (1997)
Seven (1998)
Hole In The Sun (2007)
Guests:
Info
Released 17/6-2011
Reviewed 3/6-2011
Links:
nightranger.com/
myspace
youtube
frontiers
This Night Ranger has already released ten albums to the world and some of them have reached platinum and even triple platinum status and Night Ranger is said to have sold about seventeen million albums which is an impressive number, not that anyone is expecting this new album to sell very much as no one does that anymore but that would indicate that there is at least a chance to do so. The reviewer can not recall having heard any of the band’s earlier albums.
Musically it is quite an american west cost rock album that fits into genre rather well, it is maybe just a slightly faster version with most of the songs being rather fast paced without much in terms of mid-tempo songs. The production is quite Swedish meaning that it is good enough and rather neutral in style which is what Sweden always is, neutral and good enough nothing extra, ever. It means that the production is clean but not overly polished in the higher of the AOR-school which I would say that this band do not quite adhere to. The album has eleven tracks and it takes fifty four minutes to play it from start to finish.
This album begins in a very good way as the song Growin’ up in California is a really good song that sets the tone for this album in a good way. Then happens nothing as it is like the album sort of drops and ends up in the average section most of the time, the album is on top of that a bit too long with its 54 minutes. Also, there is a little of a lack of variation on this album, it feels like the songs end up being rather similarly shaped and similar all the way through which adds to the feel that the album is a tad long.
Sure there are some more high notes than the opening track, track four called Followe Your Hear (went a little Stormwarrior there for a second) is a good one and the one following that one, five that is, Time of Our Lives is also quite good and then finally track ten is another one that somewhat floats my boat. That track is called Rock N’ Roll Tonite and it really rocks. Unfortunately the rest of the tracks are just average, there is no other word for it, sure they are well made, they do sound alright and they are fun to listen to while the album goes on but then they are as easily forgotten as they are taken to heart while you listen. That calls for calling them average, after all most bands in the genre make music that sound really good so it is really not all you need to get noticed.
For an album to stand out and feel really good it needs to be unique, it needs to be exceptionally good or at least have something that make them stand out in the crowd and I don’t think Night Ranger have any of this, they have a set of good tracks and four tracks that are really good but there is nothing that grips me and holds my attention for any longer period of time. I also think that this album is too long and suffers from similitude so even if it is a good album it does not float my boat.
An album that is good, very good but still quite average for some reason I think Night Ranger got lost somewhere in California.
HHHHHHH
