Every time I try to catchup, work gets a little nutty, and I don't get the time to have solid / dedicated listens. So, I'm over a decade (in discography years), 3 weeks, and 11 pages behind. But, still chuggin away. So, to bring it back a few albums, I think Making Contact is where I last left off in posting my thoughts.
Making ContactBBAL had some good moments, but the vocal melodies were so bland. Diesel ... meh. Fool for Love... much nicer. Tasty bass licks. I get what Kade is saying about the guitar “bends”. Really like the backing keys during the solo. Great track. Excellent opening arpeggios to When it’s Time to Rock. Over all pretty good, dragged down by the chorus. The solo / instrumental section is fantastic. A most of the others were enjoyable enough, with a recurring theme that the instrumental/solo section was the strongest. You and Me was a nice ballad, but just a little too fluffy. By and large, I tend to be let down by keyboard dominated ballads. The solo was glorious, but overshadowed by the lack of edge to the song overall. I actually rather enjoyed Push, It’s Love.
Built To DestroyYup... straight from the opening vocal line of Rock My Nights Away, it’s the second coming of Dan McCafferty. And Im not digging the keyboard led sound of this track. Naturally, there’s a good (albeit brief) solo. Gonna Make You Mine ... the guitar tone in the solo is putrid; keyboards overall are terrible. This song is shyte. Dogs of War solo slayed. Got me all hot and bothered, and then quickly went back to the mediocrity of the rest of the verses (I did enjoy the chorus). Systems Failing was rather ordinary, with an extraordinary solo and outro (I’m sensing a theme here). Memo has a ripper of an opening, and slays right up to that weird keyboard line at 1:30... then we’re right back at it. Good tune there. Still Love That Little Devil was a decent rocker. Red Sky was a definitely one of the better/best tracks on the album. Straight forward, but the vocal melodies were strong, and Barden wasn’t as garbled/raspy as he normally sounds. Oddly enough, I liked the lead riff much more than the solo. I would have really liked Rock Will Never Die ... if not for the ‘lull’ moments. When it was rockin, it was ROCKIN. Ironically, the lulls almost killed the tune for me.
I skipped Vices, and went straight to the
Waysted EP. But did slip a listen in to Night of the Wolf with everyone fawning over that on. Glad I did.
regarding the EP, Nice opener. 2nd song... this is nice ... borderline glam metal as JJ stated. Rock Steady was .... steady. Cinderella Boys started kinda meh, but the 2nd half was dope. Ball and Chain was ... solid.
MisdemeanorFirst 10 seconds ... whoa! Rest of the song .... Is this Night Ranger? One Heart ... still with the Night Ranger vibe, with a side of .38 Special. Not bad tunes, but sure as shit not what one would expect from UFO. Night Run has a bit more edge, but just a bit (The US mix was a little more pleasing). So far, I’m thinking this is to UFO what GUP is to Rush, and I wonder how the hell Tim can like any of this. The Only Ones... man, it’s only getting worse. This is awful. And I love 80s (power) ballads. As I hinted above, I don’t know if I’ve ever liked when a guitar-driven hard rock band does a keyboard driven ballad. All the worst ballads are keyboard led - When It's Love, Love Bites, Is This The Love ... all blow chunks. Oh thank god for Mean Streets. Still a bit of a wuss song, but so far, it’s like being the tallest person in a room of midgets. Name Of Love starts nice, but treads too close to the 80s AOR vibe. But man... dat solo!!! Blue was nice. Heaven's Gate had a nice edge to it. Wreckless was decent, aided by a great solo and outro (the former having some length to it). The overall 'tinny' sound of the whole production really brings this song down in particular. It's literally making me cringe here. The Chase... ugh, is this an outtake from The J. Giles Band??