Formed
in 1988 by guitarist Jake E. Lee, after he got fired from Ozzy Osbourne's band, together with singer Ray Gillen
and drummer Eric Singer after they met a similar fate in Black Sabbath. The
line-up was quickly completed by bassist Greg Chaisson. In May 1989, a year
following their formation, the self-titled debut was released. As a fan of both
Ozzy and Black Sabbath as well as Gary Moore whom Eric Singer toured with
during the 'Wild Frontier' tour, I remember being more than piqued when
I first heard about this band and their upcoming debut release. Despite being
shocked at what I heard once I got a copy of 'Badlands', it wasn't
negative shock. Rather, I was swept off of my feet by the awesome hard-edge
bluesy rock they played. Guess I automatically assumed and expected something
more akin to these cats' previous excursions but I couldn't have been further
off the mark.
I
think it only took two seconds before opener 'High Wire' had me hooked.
That opening riff is vicious and when Gillen starts to belt out over the
thunderous backline of Singer and Chaisson, how the hell can you not get hooked?
Fast, blistering and a pure joy to hear. The somewhat slower but hook-laden 'Dreams
In The Dark' follows and is organic and earthy in feel. Don't know if
anyone, before or after this album, has ever captured the feel of a season as
well as Badlands. The duo of the acoustic instrumental 'Jade's Song' which
leads into 'Winter's Call' always brings out the beauty of the dying
embers of Fall and the approach of Winter. Have no idea how they did it but this duo of songs are absolutely amazing. A much darker tone seeps through 'Dancing
On The Edge'. It's faster and heavier and the blues is gone in place of
metal. Well, as close to metal as Badlands ever went. 'Streets Cry Freedom'
is the most diverse track on display. Heavily soaked in blues, it moves freely
and elegantly between tempos and styles. Sounds confusing? Well, it's not, in
fact it works perfectly.
'Hard
Driver' follows
and never has Gillen sounded as much like David Coverdale as he does here. I
mean that in a positive way and it pushes this Whitesnake-esque rocker to great
heights. Next up, Badlands takes us down into the heartland of delta blues with
'Rumblin' Train'. The band is in top form and Jake plays a blistering
solo. Bringing back the seasonal feel 'Devil's Stomp' has me fooled.
About 1.45 into the song, the band switches from the acoustic beauty and throw
caution to the wind and simply annihilates. Awesome stuff! Mainly slow but with
bursts of stomping rock, 'Seasons' is a dark brooding affair with a lot
of hints of Led Zeppelin. The vinyl version ends with this song while the cd
version includes 'Ball & Chain'. A mid-paced blues rocker where the
band eventually go full tilt with the heaviness.
Overall,
'Badlands' is steeped in heavy power blues with a strong presence of roots
rock mixed with Led Zeppelin and early Whitesnake. Listen closely and you hear
how Gillen is phrasing his singing like Robert Plant and David Coverdale, but
he is more of a screamer than these two legends. Musically, it is the same
especially in the song structure. I'm not saying this a copy-cat recording, on
the contrary Badlands nurtures their influences very well and blend them
excellently with their own stuff. Being the anorak or the trainspotter that I
am, I was expecting Jake's guitar playing to sound just like it does when he
played for Ozzy but it doesn't. I guess he embraced the freedom of this new
band to the fullest and did his own thing. However, there are brief moments
here and there where snippets of 'Bark At The Moon' and 'The Ultimate
Sin' shines through.
In my
opinion 'Badlands' was a great debut by a band with so much potential.
But too much internal bickering lead to their down-fall. Saleswise the album
apparently sold 400,000 copies and what record label wouldn't want that?
However, Atlantic wanted to streamline Badlands in time for their sophomore
albums, 'Voodoo Highway', which the band refused. Simultaneously, Gillen
and Lee started to fight and became bitter enemies which naturally curtailed
what could have become something absolutely fantastic.
-
Swedebeast
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