In the fading light
From a middle aged star
You've seen every blemish
Every sign of age
And it's useless to whine
And it's useless to rageHeaven Forbid (1998)Band members
Eric Bloom guitars, keyboards, lead vocals on tracks 1, 3, 5, and 7, producer
Buck Dharma guitars, keyboards, lead vocals on tracks 2, 4, 6, 8-11, producer
Allen Lanier guitars, keyboards
Danny Miranda bass guitar on tracks 1, 4-9, 11, backing vocals
Jon Rogers bass guitar on tracks 2, 3 and 10, backing vocals
Bob Rondinelli drums on track 9
Chuck Burgi - drums on tracks 1-8 and 10, backing vocals
Additional musicians
George Cintron additional vocals
Tony Perrino additional keyboards
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1. See You in Black (Eric Bloom, Donald Roeser, John Shirley) 3:17
2. Harvest Moon (Roeser) 4:55
3. Power Underneath Despair (Bloom, Roeser, Shirley) 3:30
4. X-Ray Eyes (Roeser, Shirley) 3:48
5. Hammer Back (Bloom, Roeser, Shirley) 3:35
6. Damaged (Roeser, Shirley) 4:22
7. Cold Gray Light of Dawn (Bloom, Roeser, Shirley) 3:51
8. Real World (Roeser, Shirley) 5:08
9. Live for Me (Roeser, Shirley) 5:19
10. Still Burnin (Roeser, Jon Rogers) 3:39
11. In Thee (Live) (Allen Lanier) 3:40
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At the time of this albums release Buck, Eric, and Allen had all had birthdays that included black balloons for decorations. It had been a decade since
Imaginos (an album they barely had anything to do with) and their last true hit was already in rotation on Classic Rock Radio. The heady days of their twenties with sold out stadiums were a distant memory; their tours were smaller, their audience gray.
That being said, there is a steady confidence that comes with experience and an innate muscle memory to your beloved craft after so much repetition. All the elements of BÖC are present but without the mysterio (as Albert called it) naiveté. The monsters of aliens, conspiracies, creatures of the night and Tokyo smashing lizards have been traded in for the middle-aged monsters of addiction, fear of violence, adultery, economic hardship, incarceration and death. The lyrics are primarily provided by the previously mentioned, and now middle-aged, John Shirley.
This is a surprisingly heavy, guitar oriented, record that punches you in your rounding waistline from the first warm-up salvo of
See You in Black with a tight rhythmic union between drums and guitar that is quite striking. The album is further punctuated with some of the heaviest numbers since
Cultösaurus.
Power Underneath Despair has a really rocking chorus riff with an odd time signature that is more head banging than just about anything else in their catalog.
Hammer Back takes a more classic BÖC boogie approach to the metal as it implores you to stay prepared to return any violence your faced with. A celebration for a life of damaging habits conquered,
Damaged gallops through some heavy funk and blistering guitar solos and, finally, some really cool organ leads from Allen. Not to be out rocked,
Still Burnin, presumably a sequel to
Burnin for You, is a metalized tribute to life long physical attraction to your spouse.
Buck jokingly said during an interview at the time that he didnt know if the album would help with their metal street-cred but he wouldnt mind if it did.
Where the album really soars is in the light-metal moments such as the brilliant
Harvest Moon! I cant say enough praise for this song. Not only are the verses and chorus beautiful and catchy but the middle instrumental and Bucks lead break is jaw droppingly awesome! Ever since our own KevShmev convinced me to give this a listen, a bit over a year now, its been my favorite Buck song ever and sits comfortably in 3rd place for BÖC top honors.
Cold Gray Light of Dawn,
Real World, and especially the sublime
Live for Me are all excellent songs and a must listen. Each is thought provoking and the guitar work is stellar throughout.
X-Ray Eyes is the only song on this album that I could do without and its not annoying or anything but Im not fond of Bucks vocals on this one and the ending is just too repetitive.
In fact, if I were to level one general complaint on this album thats it: The choruss are often repetitive and usually walk a fine line between being memorable and overstaying their welcome.
The live version of
In Thee is nice but I dont find it significantly better than the studio version on
Mirrors. The vocal harmonies are a highlight.
Overall this is a great record of individual songs that all sit well on shuffle of your favorite music player. There is no overarching theme nor does this album require listening to it as a whole to get enjoyment from it.
If you havent already, give it a whirl.