Midnight Blue
Take the Money and Run

British band Midnight Blue released their first album which also happened to their only one so far in 1994, it was called Take the Money and Run which might have been something they attempted and failed with this album. It was only released in Japan so with this Yesterrock remastering it will for the first time be released here in Europe. The album in itself is considered one of the finest releases in the genre, it is an album fronted by known singer Doogie White who is known for collaborating with the classical band Rainbow but also some other bands like his present band Tank. So, in one way a re-release but at the same time it is an album that is released for the first time. So what about this album? Will it be something earning them enough money to take it and run or something else?

It is a melodic rock album with a classical sound, White has a classical rock voice a bit in the same sense as Coverdale or someone like that. Catchy choruses and energetic vocals is what it is mainly about, music designed to stick in your mind it is. Nothing really world changing and it has a production that is relevant of the times, well made and with a typical sound. A no compromises classical rock sound is what we are treated to with this album and which for this edition has two bonus tracks. There were thirteen tracks and one hour of music in the original edition of this album and now with the two bonus tracks we get an album of fifteen tracks and sixty nine minutes which is a staggering playing time.

Not really something world changing it is this album, it is well made and a powerful rock album with some great choruses like in the ending song Only Girl, the opening track Surrender and One Way to Heaven are some really powerful good tracks. The tracks also does overall sound really good and powerful, so the overall feel of the album is quite strong, a strong album I would say.

But all is not good, not only is it quite genre typical which does not have to be a negative, but the album is also very long with way over an hour of playing time it is a bit of a work to get through. Some of the songs are not that impressive either, like Remember or After Midnight which are rather dull tracks to be completely honest. But as stated the worst problem is the massive amount of time this album plays for, it is just impossible to keep the interest up for this album during that amount of time. The playing time problem is what it is because of the album not really being varied and that lack of variation is exaggerating the issue.

So for this album I will delete about half of the tracks from the music playing program and the player which makes this into an album of good length and with enough good tracks to make it a really good track, too bad the band didn’t do that by themselves. In the end though I think this is a good album, a bit too long and a bit repetitive and genre typical but still a good album that I am sure will entice the rocker and for you who likes this genre it is a real treat and for you who are not dead serious rock fans it will probably still be a good album and a worthy album to be re-released. Take the Money and Run is a good album, it could have been shorter but in its best moments it is brilliant.