#8
Badlands
Right at the end of the 80's glam music heyday, a superstar band was born. Jake E. Lee (who was Ozzy Osbourne's replacement for the late Randy Rhodes) joined forces with legendary singer Ray Gillen (Black Sabbath) and Eric Singer (Kiss) to form Badlands. Everything about this self-titled album screamed platinum record sales- Everything except for the actual number of records it sold. Badlands had a unique, if not nostalgic 70's sound, except ALOT heavier. The former Ozzy shredder laid down some of the rawest, most intense guitar heard in that era, and it was highlighted by one of the strongest rock voices in the world. Ray Gillen was rivaled only by David Coverdale of Whitesnake in terms of the strength, quality, and sheer emotion his voice added to every song. "Dreams in the Dark" was the first single from this album, and had decent rotation on MTV...
Badlands was one of those rare bands that would actually sound BETTER live than on record. The closest band to the Badlands sound was probably Tesla, and just like Tesla, they didn't believe in using alot of special effects, and they had the talent to make it sound great anyhow... check out the very Zeppelin-ish "High Wire"...killer guitar intro, and the late, great Ray Gillen at his best. R.I.P.
Rock 'n' Roll lost one of it's greatest voices when Ray died suddenly in 1993 from AIDS.
3 comments:
Another CD I don't have in my collection, but need. I'm gonna have to come over to your place and bring my CD burner - then I'll return the favor.
Jake E. Lee is a bad ass MF...
You got it sir..any time- I am working from home now, so I'm pretty wide open...Badlands actually has two more albums, one with Ray, and one with someone else, they are both as good as the first..its a shame they never got their well-deserved fame..
I knew they had two CD's, but not a third with a different singer.
Post a Comment