Welcome Chad
Here's some more ......I expect many of these runners up (and later, the honourable mentions) won't be as well known as those in the main list , which is a big reason I did them. In many ways the releases that are least known but only just miss out on the Top 50 are likely to be of more interest to more people than the classics.
Anyway.........a few more.
#70 Bangalore Choir: On Target
Released 1992Gets a spot in my list just for the cleavage (re-released later without the chick
) but also because it’s a damn solid album of heavy rock with the obligatory ballad or two. For some reason I remember exactly where I heard of this band. I was reading one of the music mags I used to look at in my school days (probably Hit Parader) and there was mention of a Randy Rhoads benefit gig for the scholarship fund his mum had set up in his name. I was a huge Ozzy/Rhoads fan and so I read on. There were a whole load of big names playing but one name that stood out (not knowing who a band is was not allowed) was Bangalore Choir.
Details of the gig I found ...........
https://www.nobitching.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=4677Once I looked into them I sorta got the idea – I was vaguely familiar with David Reece from his one Accept album and I knew of Kurt Mitchell from Hericane Alice and I’d actually bought some of his guitar instruction cassettes
– Learn to Burn if memory serves correct. So we have a solid lineup in prospect. The original guitarist lined up was actually Joey Tafolla but that didn’t work out for whatever reason. Cripes – I can’t remember what I did yesterday and yet I can remember this shit
Reece used to get crap for being some sort of Coverdale clone and personally I don’t get it - sure he does the odd “Hmmm.mmmm” in DC style but he really does have quite a distinctive voice – a powerful rock/metal voice that I really like on the right music . He’s also been involved in some absolute shite like that Sircle of Silence disc Suicide Candyman which ended up as a beer coaster.
This is pretty much by the numbers heavy rock style wise but the songwriting and playing is a big cut above most of what was around at the time. A couple of soaring ballads but also some ballsy rockers like All or Nothing and a stonking cover (much heavier and much better) of Autograph’s demo Angel In Black. Doin’ The Dance was a Bon Jovi/Aldo Nova co-write. Supposedly Max Norman (producer) really sweetened up the much heavier demo material for this but I can’t really comment on that as I haven’t heard the demos.
And yes……….this is yet another band that got their timing totally wrong in that 1991-1992 time and they vanished as quick as they appeared – literally dropped from the label weeks after release.
I know that Paul's got this one as he really upset me a few weeks back by posting the chickless cover
Favourite Tracks
All Or Nothing ,
Angel In Black ,
Slippin Away#69 Glenmore: For The Sake of Truth
Released 1994Here’s another obscure album I can barely find a review or mention of on the net but they were a firm favourite of mine for a while. Like many of the hidden gems in melodic rock and metal it was released early-mid 90’s (this will become familiar) and barely sold a unit , except to scavengers like me who were still on the hunt for good rock music and prepared to get their hands dirty finding it.
Supposedly named after the whiskey of the same name they’re out of Germany and played catchy hard rock/melodic metal with a slightly progressive edge – there’s more meat in the musical structures than many bands of the same ilk. I find it quite hard to compare them to other bands – there’s whiffs of Heavens Gate , early PC 69 and maybe Queensryche but they really have their own sound. Singer Jurgen Volk has a real screech on him but I don’t find it too much to bear. Good guitars and drums (Jorg Michael popping up as he has a habit of doing) and a nice clean production. Take A Look is the attempt at a commercial song and I like it. Give em a go and see what you think. I love the unexpected outro riff to finish off Neverending too (same as used under the guitar solo)………always cool to see an unexpected riff/change of direction , a trait I liked in Criss Oliva's writing.
If you like the sound of them then the debut album Materialized is almost as good ..and probably just as hard to find.
Favourite Tracks
Take A Look (Inside Your Heart),
Political Games ,
For The Sake Of Truth ,
Neverending ,
Soldier of Fortune#68 Lion : Trouble In Angel City
Released 1989Long before Doug Aldrich was making a name for himself in Dio and Whitesnake I was a big fan of his work in Lion , Bad Moon Rising, Hurricane and his unrecognised cameo on House of Lords’ Sahara album. I remember back in the days when you had no choice but to buy CDs that Lion’s Dangerous Attraction album was one of those Ebay gems that you needed to fork out $50 or more to have a hope of getting your hands on one.
Anyhow…….I would consider Doug one of my favourite guitarists but at the same time I view him as a bit one dimensional. He can get quite repetitive with his bluesy rock stuff as seen in Whitesnake and Burning Rain and his solos don’t contain a huge amount of variety at times (I also found his solo albums rather boring) but on the positive side ; when he nails it he fucking slays it due to incredible picking and legato technique and he has a quality that I love in a rock guitarist and that’s huge attack on the strings . Guitarists will know what I mean by that – not many guitarists have it but other names that come to mind with a similar feel include Van Halen, Zakk Wylde , Jake E Lee and John Norum.
Lion had its roots in England with singer Kal Swan (ex- Tytan) and they moved to the US and recruited then young gun Doug Aldrich to record their first EP and then on to debut album Dangerous Attraction. They followed this up with Trouble In Angel City which was a mish mash of new songs , a Slade cover (Lock Up Your Daughters) and (massively superior) re-records of songs off their earlier EP. And for me this is their best album . Lion came to end after drummer Mark Edwards suffered a severe neck injury (bike accident) but Swan and Aldrich re-appeared soon after with the rhythm section of Bangalore Choir and with a new name – Bad Moon Rising. Given the two key members remain I consider them essentially the same band.
Bad Moon Rising produced three albums – the first s/t was Lion style rock , the second (Blood) was far more bluesy rock (still very good) and the third was some sort of alternative crap.
Kal Swan’s voice is a bit love/hate (or perhaps an acquired taste) but if you don't mind his constipated style and enjoy flashy guitar work then I can’t imagine you’d dislike either of these albums. The solo spots in Forgotten Sons and Dark Side of Babylon are big highlights and I love the groove on Blood In The Streets. In fact the solo in Forgotten Sons is mindblowing and one of my favourite air guitar moments ever. It's a bit low in the mix unfortunately but listen carefully.
There's a real progression you can see from the hair metal of Lion to the more rootsy hard rock of the s/t BMR debut and then the more groove based stuff on the follow up BMR album "Blood"
So for something different I have linked to one song from each below
Forgotten Sons (from Trouble In Angel City)Dark Side of Babylon (from BMR s/t debut)Blood On The Streets (from BMR album Blood)#67 House of Lords: Demons Down
Released 1992Here we go again ………….1992 , a band that had everything going for them , just about to break the bigtime with their best ever release (the prior release Sahara had charted #121)and grunge blows them off the face of the Earth before you can say “Nirvana”. They were no more only months later.
This is the last of the three albums recorded by the classic HoL partnership of James Christian and Gregg Giuffria. Aside from the great songs and pompy keyboards from Giuffria it’s really James Christian’s vocals that are the signature of the band. The other musicians came and went but they all had one thing in common – they were far better than the average ……..everyone from Chuck Wright, Lanny Cordola, Ken Mary, Tommy Aldridge, Doug Aldrich (played almost all of the guitars on Sahara uncredited )
HoL was actually put together with that sort of thing in mind – a supergroup of sorts formed out of the ashes of the band Giuffria with handpicked talent, top song writers and in the early stages the picking was done by Giuffria and Gene Simmons who owned the label they recorded their first 2 albums with. Christian had just missed out on the gig for Quiet Riot but the tape got him the HoL gig eventually.
All three albums (s/t, Sahara and Demons Down) are classics and it wasn’t an easy choice but in the end I felt that only Demons Down nailed every aspect – the first couple had the odd extra filler and the production now sounds a bit dated/overdone. Demons Down sounds as good today as it did then and is a bona fide classic of melodic rock.
Favourite Tracks: A shitload of them - but here's 4 ......
O Father ,
Demons Down ,
What's Forever For ,
Spirit Of Love As an aside another very rare album that's pretty good is Rumble Tribe : Fire , Water , Earth and Stone which was heavily backed by James Christian - he produced it, did backing vox and the disc includes grittier versions of the songs Demons Down and Cold Day In Hell (from his solo album). A sample here :
Deeper Than Black #66 Anthrax: Spreading The Disease
Released 1985Given my need for a particular type of melody/hook in my music it’s quite common for me to adore one particular album and yet see nothing much at all in another album from the same artist that many fans consider similar or superior. Dream Theater for starters – and such is the case with Anthrax. Among The Living seems to get the gong for the classic of Anthrax classics – for me there’s only one song I ever play from that (and one song that could compete with anything on STD) and that’s Indians.
In a nutshell Spreading The Disease just nails the idea of melodic thrash and contains a number of my favourite metal songs , especially Medusa .
Favourites:
Medusa ,
Lone Justice,
Armed and Dangerous,
The Enemy