Yngwie Malmsteen.

[Glasser]

One of my favorite artists but his discography is a mess. I just wanted to share the albums that matter to me, in order. So much can be discussed on this and I hope you all do.

My ranking of the studio albums that matter to me personally.

1) Marching Out.
2) Trilogy.
3) Fire & Ice.
4) Eclipse.
5) Odyssey.
6) Rising Force.
7) Magnum Opus.

[emtee]

There are some fantastic songs scattered across the albums. Always enjoyed his playing. But his landmark accomplishment to me, and one of my all time favorite live albums is, Live In Leningrad.

[Glasser]

There are some fantastic songs scattered across the albums. Always enjoyed his playing. But his landmark accomplishment to me, and one of my all time favorite live albums is, Live In Leningrad.

I completely agree with you on that! I do not understand why he chose to sing on his recent albums.

[wolfking]

One of my favorite artists but his discography is a mess. I just wanted to share the albums that matter to me, in order. So much can be discussed on this and I hope you all do.

My ranking of the studio albums that matter to me personally.

1) Marching Out.
2) Trilogy.
3) Fire & Ice.
4) Eclipse.
5) Odyssey.
6) Rising Force.
7) Magnum Opus.

Hmmm.....I think his output all the way up to Alchemy is absolutely tremendous, which is most of what you've mentioned here.

War to End All Wars would have been terrific also but the production is shit, but there's some great songs on there like Crucify and the Wizard.  No wonder Boals left again when he heard the production.  Attack!! is also really good with Doogie on vocals, I find that one quite underrated,  Unleash the Fury is hit and miss but I think could have been quite good if it were heavily trimmed.

Perpetual Flame is actually really good too IMO.  Ripper worked quite well with Yngwie's style.  Relentless not so much.  After that where Yngwie took over vocals himself and became mostly instrumental......yeah, they are a mess.

[nick_z]

No Seventh Sign among your favorites, Glasser? I enjoy it a lot. I see you included Magnum Opus, which I found to be a bit disappointing following that one.

I don’t see Facing the Animal discussed often either, and that’s another one I like. Very well produced too and with a great performance by Cozy Powell on drums.

[wolfking]

No Seventh Sign among your favorites, Glasser? I enjoy it a lot. I see you included Magnum Opus, which I found to be a bit disappointing following that one.

I don’t see Facing the Animal discussed often either, and that’s another one I like. Very well produced too and with a great performance by Cozy Powell on drums.

Magnum Opus is a fav of mine too, really underrated.  SS is good but more filler than normal IMO.  The highs are some of his highest highs though.

Alchemy is my personal fav, just as it's a bit heavier but Facing the Animal probably a close second.  Such a well rounded, melodic, catchy album.  Great songwriting throughout, and some of his best and most tasteful guitar playing.

[nick_z]

I’ll have to revisit Magnum Opus…haven’t done that in a long time…

[EPICVIEW]

Malmsteen is a beast

[Glasser]

No Seventh Sign among your favorites, Glasser? I enjoy it a lot. I see you included Magnum Opus, which I found to be a bit disappointing following that one.

I don’t see Facing the Animal discussed often either, and that’s another one I like. Very well produced too and with a great performance by Cozy Powell on drums.

Seventh Sign is very good, just not a slam dunk for me. Vodoo alone from Magnum Opus separates this from SS.

[TAC]

After I did my Megadeth run through last month, Magnum Opus came up randomly on Spotify, and I was really enjoying it, even though I don't really know it.
I actually stopped following Yngwie after Trilogy which I thought blew.
I did buy Seventh Sign only because I was going to see him on that tour. But I have never really gave his discography a decent and focused run through.
I have all of his releases digitally, so I may have to do this.

[El Barto]

I lost interest in Yngwie pretty early on, his shtick wore then pretty quickly, but it's hard to overstate how tremendous Marching Out was in 1985. I don't think I could call it a game changer, as not many others followed what he was doing, but it had a sound and a feel that were very different from everything else we were hearing at the time. Part of it was no doubt tunings and whatnot, and Jeff Scott Soto was another huge part of it. Replacing JSS with Mark Boals was pretty much the end of him for me.

I saw him live a few years ago and it was just awful.

[TAC]

I lost interest in Yngwie pretty early on, his shtick wore then pretty quickly, but it's hard to overstate how tremendous Marching Out was in 1985. I don't think I could call it a game changer, as not many others followed what he was doing, but it had a sound and a feel that were very different from everything else we were hearing at the time. Part of it was no doubt tunings and whatnot, and Jeff Scott Soto was another huge part of it. Replacing JSS with Mark Boals was pretty much the end of him for me.

As awful as I think JSS is now, Marching Out, to me, is an easy Top 10 vocal performance for me. He is amazing, and honestly, I can't believe it's the same guy.

I didn't have a problem with Boals per se, I just thought that Trilogy sucked when it came out, and I basically moved on from Yngwie at that point.

[El Barto]

I didn't have a problem with Boals per se, I just thought that Trilogy sucked when it came out, and I basically moved on from Yngwie at that point.

Yeah, that's pretty much me. There was such a massive difference between the two I think it reflects much more on Yngwie for going that direction than on Boals for his singing.

And the Live in Tokyo thing was Yngwie+Soto at their finest. JSS doing Graham Bonnet for the Alcatraz songs was fantastic.

[hefdaddy42]

This is one artist I was never able to connect with, and I was into ALL the guitar virtuosos from this time period.

*shrugs*

[EPICVIEW]

I lost interest in Yngwie pretty early on, his shtick wore then pretty quickly, but it's hard to overstate how tremendous Marching Out was in 1985. I don't think I could call it a game changer, as not many others followed what he was doing, but it had a sound and a feel that were very different from everything else we were hearing at the time. Part of it was no doubt tunings and whatnot, and Jeff Scott Soto was another huge part of it. Replacing JSS with Mark Boals was pretty much the end of him for me.

I agree.. I met and partied with them back then and was really disappointed when JSS and Malm parted ways


As awful as I think JSS is now, Marching Out, to me, is an easy Top 10 vocal performance for me. He is amazing, and honestly, I can't believe it's the same guy.

I didn't have a problem with Boals per se, I just thought that Trilogy sucked when it came out, and I basically moved on from Yngwie at that point.

[Glasser]

After I did my Megadeth run through last month, Magnum Opus came up randomly on Spotify, and I was really enjoying it, even though I don't really know it.
I actually stopped following Yngwie after Trilogy which I thought blew.
I did buy Seventh Sign only because I was going to see him on that tour. But I have never really gave his discography a decent and focused run through.
I have all of his releases digitally, so I may have to do this.

I'm going to revisit Seventh Sign. Love Mike Vescera's voice. Magnum Opus flew under the radar. I bought it on tape when it came out with low expectations and it hit me right away.

[Glasser]

One of my favorite artists but his discography is a mess. I just wanted to share the albums that matter to me, in order. So much can be discussed on this and I hope you all do.

My ranking of the studio albums that matter to me personally.

1) Marching Out.
2) Trilogy.
3) Fire & Ice.
4) Eclipse.
5) Odyssey.
6) Rising Force.
7) Magnum Opus.

Hmmm.....I think his output all the way up to Alchemy is absolutely tremendous, which is most of what you've mentioned here.

War to End All Wars would have been terrific also but the production is shit, but there's some great songs on there like Crucify and the Wizard.  No wonder Boals left again when he heard the production.  Attack!! is also really good with Doogie on vocals, I find that one quite underrated,  Unleash the Fury is hit and miss but I think could have been quite good if it were heavily trimmed.

Perpetual Flame is actually really good too IMO.  Ripper worked quite well with Yngwie's style.  Relentless not so much.  After that where Yngwie took over vocals himself and became mostly instrumental......yeah, they are a mess.

I just pulled out Relentless and Perpetual Flame today. Enjoyed both. And yes, Yngwie needs a new singer. I always thought he would approach Russ from Symphony X.

[Glasser]

Malmsteen is a beast

Met him a few times on the Odyssey tour. Despite what people say, he was very cool to me.

[Glasser]

I lost interest in Yngwie pretty early on, his shtick wore then pretty quickly, but it's hard to overstate how tremendous Marching Out was in 1985. I don't think I could call it a game changer, as not many others followed what he was doing, but it had a sound and a feel that were very different from everything else we were hearing at the time. Part of it was no doubt tunings and whatnot, and Jeff Scott Soto was another huge part of it. Replacing JSS with Mark Boals was pretty much the end of him for me.

I saw him live a few years ago and it was just awful.

I understand the recent dislike but the Boals stuff was good.

[Glasser]

This is one artist I was never able to connect with, and I was into ALL the guitar virtuosos from this time period.

*shrugs*

He transcended the shredder era to me. Check out his stuff with Alcatrazz if you haven't already.

[wolfking]

This is one artist I was never able to connect with, and I was into ALL the guitar virtuosos from this time period.

*shrugs*

He transcended the shredder era to me. Check out his stuff with Alcatrazz if you haven't already.

The guitar work on No Parole is so good it's laughable.

[Glasser]

This is one artist I was never able to connect with, and I was into ALL the guitar virtuosos from this time period.

*shrugs*

He transcended the shredder era to me. Check out his stuff with Alcatrazz if you haven't already.

The guitar work on No Parole is so good is laughable.

Playing that one now!!!

[Stadler]

This is one artist I was never able to connect with, and I was into ALL the guitar virtuosos from this time period.

*shrugs*

He transcended the shredder era to me. Check out his stuff with Alcatrazz if you haven't already.

The guitar work on No Parole is so good is laughable.

Agreed; I like Yngwie, because I find him entertaining, but it's not like I'm too deep into his solo stuff.  Black Star is very cool, and I like a little of his instrumental albums (the Opus, the Angel record) but for me, his bread and butter is in the two Alcatrazz records. They are gold.  I loved them then and still listen to them today.

[Lowdz]

I was a huge Yngwie fan from hearing the Alcatrazz album. Turned the genre on it's head and had the same effect on guitar players as EVH did. I really like everything (in varying degrees) up until the Concerto Suite. Everything after this was either shit, sounded like shit or both.

[El Barto]

I lost interest in Yngwie pretty early on, his shtick wore then pretty quickly, but it's hard to overstate how tremendous Marching Out was in 1985. I don't think I could call it a game changer, as not many others followed what he was doing, but it had a sound and a feel that were very different from everything else we were hearing at the time. Part of it was no doubt tunings and whatnot, and Jeff Scott Soto was another huge part of it. Replacing JSS with Mark Boals was pretty much the end of him for me.

I saw him live a few years ago and it was just awful.

I understand the recent dislike but the Boals stuff was good.

Perhaps, but the first two albums had a kind of darkness to them, which is what made them so interesting to a lot of us at the time. Like I said, a different sound and feel. The Boals record (and the Joe Lynn Turner album that followed) were both so light and poppy in comparison. They kind of pissed me off.  Think about it, the single from Marching Out was I am a Viking. The singles he released from the next two were You Don't Remember and Heaven Tonight. Yeah, they kind of pissed me off.   

[Stadler]

I lost interest in Yngwie pretty early on, his shtick wore then pretty quickly, but it's hard to overstate how tremendous Marching Out was in 1985. I don't think I could call it a game changer, as not many others followed what he was doing, but it had a sound and a feel that were very different from everything else we were hearing at the time. Part of it was no doubt tunings and whatnot, and Jeff Scott Soto was another huge part of it. Replacing JSS with Mark Boals was pretty much the end of him for me.

I saw him live a few years ago and it was just awful.

I understand the recent dislike but the Boals stuff was good.

Perhaps, but the first two albums had a kind of darkness to them, which is what made them so interesting to a lot of us at the time. Like I said, a different sound and feel. The Boals record (and the Joe Lynn Turner album that followed) were both so light and poppy in comparison. They kind of pissed me off.  Think about it, the single from Marching Out was I am a Viking. The singles he released from the next two were You Don't Remember and Heaven Tonight. Yeah, they kind of pissed me off.   

I second this.  I LOVE Joe Lynn Turner, but I was supremely disappointed with his work with Yngwie (and later with Purple, same problem).  He could have sung that darker stuff and it would have been interesting.  But that's not the direction the Swedish one went. 

[Glasser]

I lost interest in Yngwie pretty early on, his shtick wore then pretty quickly, but it's hard to overstate how tremendous Marching Out was in 1985. I don't think I could call it a game changer, as not many others followed what he was doing, but it had a sound and a feel that were very different from everything else we were hearing at the time. Part of it was no doubt tunings and whatnot, and Jeff Scott Soto was another huge part of it. Replacing JSS with Mark Boals was pretty much the end of him for me.

I saw him live a few years ago and it was just awful.

The single from Marching Out was "I'll See The Light Tonight" which is a great song but the poppiest on the album. Soto wasn't even in the video. It was Boals lip syncing to the song.

[ozzy554]

I like Odyssey for what it is. I know JLT did most of the writing due to Yngwie being sidelined by a car accident and for what it's worth it ended up being Yngwie's highest charted album. My main issue with Yngwie is that he usually seems focused on showing off how good he is instead of making memorable songs. I feel like a more collaborative effort combining Yngwie's musicianship and JLT's mainstream songwriting sensibilities I think could've really been something.

I do wonder if it bothers him that his most commercially successful album was mainly not written by him.

[Glasser]

I like Odyssey for what it is. I know JLT did most of the writing due to Yngwie being sidelined by a car accident and for what it's worth it ended up being Yngwie's highest charted album. My main issue with Yngwie is that he usually seems focused on showing off how good he is instead of making memorable songs. I feel like a more collaborative effort combining Yngwie's musicianship and JLT's mainstream songwriting sensibilities I think could've really been something.

I do wonder if it bothers him that his most commercially successful album was mainly not written by him.

Interesting thought. Eclipse has some very accessible songs with Goran as well but I think JLT's voice and just the fact of who he is gave Odyssey the success it had. Yngwie proved he can write a catchy tune before that but JLT definitely was a huge factor.