Night Ranger Hole in The Sun review |
Loading ...Night Ranger Hole In The Sun is the newest album from one of the favorite 80s bands. Dawn Patrol (1982) and Midnight Madness (1983) were two awesome albums from a band that might have pigeonholed themselves as being too mellow, but these guys can seriously rock. 7 Wishes (1985) was the last studio album I liked a lot. Since the late 80s they’ve released five studio albums: Man in Motion (1988), Feeding off The Mojo (1995), Neverland (1997), Seven (1998) and their newest album Hole In The Sun. Where does Hole fit in their body of work? I’d say in the middle. It’s not among their best, but it’s no embarassment.
Warning: before buying this album through musicane - read the section at the bottom of this post
I’ve had Hole In The Sun in the playlist cycling and trying to get into it. The problem with Night Ranger is their first two albums were so good that everything that follows is being compared to a high benchmark. It’s a good thing they have some great musicians in Jack Blades who got together with Damn Yankees and more recently with Tommy Shaw in the project Shaw-Blades (recommended). Blades keeps the bass line down as well as Night Ranger vocals.
Brad Gillis is the whammy bar master axe grinder who was good enough to enjoy a short stint with Ozzy on the Speak of the Devil album covering Sabbath songs. If you don’t think that Gillis can play, just pick that album up someday. Add Jeff Watson as a co-guitarist (their description, not mine) and you have a solid one-two punch on the six strings. Hey, and Kelly Keagy is no slouch pounding the skins either.
As for the guy with the shades on the back of the Midnight Madness CD (Alan Fitzgerald?)? Seven seems to have been his last studio album with the band. Fitzgerald is also absent from "the band" page on nightranger.com. Disappointed to see him missing too as keyboards are an important part of the classic Night Ranger sound. Don’t worry, they have Great White’s Michael Lardie on the keys on the album.
Unfortunately you won’t find Watson or Lardie on the 2008 Night Ranger tour to support Hole In The Sky.
That’s right, Watson and Lardie have both left Night Ranger again already. Watson has been replaced by Joel Hoekstra and Lardie by Christian Cullen. Who are these guys? I’d have to Google them to learn more because apparently they aren’t important or well known enough to make "the band" page on nightranger.com yet. Why do they diss new band members like this? Somebody get their webmaster motoring.
Track List and review notes
1. "You’re Gonna Hear It From Me" - thundering drum intro with nice use of power chords and floor tom. Makes a statement that this isn’t album isn’t going to be as mellow as Night Ranger fans might expect. I like this one.
2. "Tell Your Vision" - Another good rocker track. Didn’t immediately like this one, but it grew on me quickly. Solo rips. The main riff reminds me a lot of another song by another band, but I can’t think of the name. This album is off to a strong start.
3. "Drama Queen" - I’m not sure who’s singing the main vocals on this one, but the vocals seem off. This one has a Def Leppard type of feel to it and would be better with Joe Elliot singing, especially with the whole "come on, come on, come on…" part. The dueling guitar solos are pure Night Ranger and great stuff.
4. "Whatever Happened" - breaking out the cry baby wah for the intro and outro, nice. Rest of song kind of reminds me of "All Star" by Smash Mouth. Would have liked to have more of that wah peddle doing something like Gary Richrath did on Wheels or Turning album by REO Speedwagon. A little too fluffy.
5. "There Is Life" - the first mellow track which starts with a piano. Think "Sister Christian" or "Sentimental Street" but without the strong lyrical hooks. The chorus is sticky, but it doesn’t have classic written on it. Not bad, not great, but solid and satisfying.
6. "Rockstar" - I don’t care for the tinty verse sound or the chorus. Seems too whiny. This is my least favorite track thus far.
7. "Hole In The Sun" - The guitar solo is great. Easily my favorite part of many lesser known songs like this by them. The rest of the song is just OK. This feels like we’re on B-side material.
8. "Fool In Me" - Acoustic guitar. The second mellow track on the album with a nice melody and lyrics but the bongo drums ruined it a bit for me.
9. "White Knuckle" - strong guitar intro and some effective keyboard work. This feels like one of those grow on you over multiple plays tracks.
10. "Revelation 4AM" - Another mellow track, some good bass work here.
11. "Wrap It Up" - this one’s not for me.
12. "Being" - mellow track number four and the weakest of the bunch. Would have rather seen them end the album on a rocker note.
13. Don’t Tell Me You Love Me (Acoustic) - see below
14. Sister Christian (Acoustic) - it’s nice hearing acoustic / unplugged versions but the inclusion of these tracks on the album seem more like a sales thing than adding anything that thrilling to the original versions. Don’t get me wrong, the acoustic guitar playing is skilled and entertaining, but I’d rather hear the originals.
Thinking that some fans might only buy the album if it comes with bonus acoustic tracks of past versions. Personally, I think if they want to do bonus songs, they should provide live versions of the new studio tracks so fans can get an idea of how the songs would sound live rather than trying to return to the hits well from the past. It makes sense that people are going to want to hear how the tunes would sound live on the upcoming tour. Bands that don’t do complete versions of their studio tracks live are missing a sales/marketing opportunity.
Rocky Musicane purchase experience
Purchasing the new Night Ranger Hole In The Sun album through Musicane 320kbps proved to be more challenging than it should have been. Musicane is in beta, so they should be given a little slack, but nightranger.com is promoting using them — and so am I in the top of this post, so I want readers to be on high alert.
First off I kept receiving "invalid token" errors when trying to pay via PayPal. Then I used my PayPal credit card and the transaction went through the first time, but also displayed error messages. When I logged into PayPal, I learned that they had charged me three times for the same album.
Grr. I fired off an email to customercare [->] musicane.com to see if they would please cancel the two extraneous charges and waited for a response. Right away I was given an automated ticket number to track the sale information, but didn’t hear back from a customer support person right away on a Monday. Not a great sign. I’ll update this section as to what happens, but I added a "warning:" message below the link above for readers. You might want to get this CD at Amazon or your local music store instead of buying online like I did.
The quality of the MP3 files is high, although it didn’t come with album art. I was able to get that from the Night Ranger official website.
Summary and grade
My first listen-through on the album yielded different feeling than subsequent ones have. It’s no Dawn Patrol or Midnight Madness, but you likely expected that. It’s not even 7 Wishes, but I’d put this ahead of Seven and tied with Man In Motion. There are a few scattered tracks that I really like here. I’ve never seen Night Ranger live and feel like this album and accompanying tour would be a good opportunity. Do regret the fact that I can’t play any of these tunes on Rock Band or Guitar Hero (why not?), but that has nothing to do with my review grade that follows. Grade: B
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Quick answer on Hoekstra and Cullen, among other things, they’ve been playing with Kelly Keagy in his Scrap Metal project with the Nelson brothers.
Watson didn’t exactly leave….he was kind of pushed, if you get my drift.
I’ve got a review on deck from the Night Ranger show I saw in Dayton a couple of weeks ago…I’ve just been waiting for time to put it up with pictures.
I will say this…Joel Hoekstra fits in great with the Night Ranger core of Gillis/Blades/Keaggy.
He is a great player, and has GREAT stage presence with Gillis/Blades….fits right in with their on-stage hijinks, and looks like he’s having a great time playing the songs….something that he confirmed to me, when I traded emails with him on the day after the show. He made a classy unsolicited mention of Watson (who I didn’t mention at all in my email to him) and just came across as a great guy in general.
I was lukewarm about seeing NR without Watson, and within minutes of them taking the stage, my concerns were erased - Hoekstra absolutely fits, and does so respectfully without being obnoxious…as for Cullen…he didn’t make that much of an impression with me…but then again, neither did Michael Lardie or Alan Fitzgerald….for me, Night Ranger has always been about Jack and Kelly….and the guitars…..keyboards have always been an afterthought with me…
Okay, so the above wasn’t THAT quick…
I dig Hole in the Sun - they recorded a double live album (import only) called Rockin’ Shibuya that I would like to pick up. It’s out now as an expensive Japanese only release right now, and will be out in a European edition via Frontiers, that will hopefully be slightly more affordable.
I’m looking forward to having live versions of some of the Hole in the Sun stuff.
Here’s the track listing, since I’m just rambling now…This Boy Needs To Rock is SUCH an awesome opener…
CD1: This Boy Needs To Rock / Highway Star; Tell Your Vision; Sing Me Away; Touch Of Madness; Drama Queen; Rumours In The Air; Seven Wishes; The Secret of My Success; There Is Life; Eddie’s Comin’ Out Tonight.
CD2: Sentimental Street; Forever All Over Again; Goodbye; Whatever Happened; Four In The Morning; When You Close Your Eyes; Don’t Tell Me You Love Me; Sister Christian; You’re Gonna Hear From Me; (You Can Still) Rock In America.
Comment by Matt — July 21, 2008 @ 1:13 pm PST
Why would they push out Watson? Was he hard to get along with or something? Substance issues? Or something else?
Comment by TDavid — July 21, 2008 @ 1:17 pm PST
Here was Watson’s dispatch to his email list at the time….I don’t think it was substance problems or anything like that…I think it just came down to an unfortunate fallout over business…
“Hello Everyone,
Thanks for all the e-mails and your concerns. I can’t go too far into this, as there are now legal concerns regarding the band situation, but I can tell you that the other three guys decided to throw me out and try to replace me.
I was expecting to tour this year, as we had just finished a new CD and mixed a live one. Brad and I had worked with an attorney for most of last year to secure an operating agreement with everyone to protect the name, etc. It was unsuccessful, as Jack and Kelly refused to agree to anything with us. (which is the reason we needed an agreement, no one had registered the name for 13 years, as well as many other potentially devastating business management oversights)
In November, Yolande and I traveled to Australia to see her gravely ill father, and since then I’ve not gotten a returned phone call or e-mail from anyone in the band.
Evidently, Brad decided to join up with Jack and Kelly, take the name and split the money three ways. Sadly, it appears that their personal greed has trumped the loyalty to our fans.
After returning home, I received a one page letter from an attorney saying I was out, and that’s all I know. They were actually booking shows without me before I was told anything.
In the meantime, I’m playing, writing and recording constantly, while trying to figure out how people can behave so badly after 27 years of working together.
Anyone thinking of buying tickets to see the show should know that it won’t be Night Ranger they’re going to see. (although I’ve heard that my name and picture are wrongly being used in ads in some markets)
Other than that, my father was diagnosed with lung cancer and is going into surgery today, so I’m very worried.
I hope this answers your questions. Please let anyone that asks know that I’m fine, and have positive thoughts for my Dad. He needs ‘em.
All the best, Jeff Watson”
Comment by Matt — July 21, 2008 @ 1:22 pm PST
and here was Night Ranger’s reply to the above….below info was taken from Melodicrock.Com……btw, Reb Beach from Winger was the initial replacement guitarist before they got Hoekstra. They got Hoekstra after Beach got busy with Winger…
A STATEMENT FROM NIGHT RANGER:
What follows is a statement from Night Ranger in response to a message from former guitarist Jeff Watson posted on a Night Ranger Message Board yesterday:
“We are shocked and saddened to learn of Jeff Watson’s comments regarding his departure from Night Ranger. There are four sides to this story our three are the same; only Jeff’s is different.
While we don’t want to get into details at this point in time, we are all truly sorry that our significant and continuing differences with Jeff could not be worked out. Still, we wish Jeff nothing but success in all of his future endeavors and are grateful for his positive contributions in the past.”
- Jack Blades (bass/vocals), Brad Gillis (guitars/vocals), Kelly Keagy (drums/vocals).
Comment by Matt — July 21, 2008 @ 1:27 pm PST
Hmm, somebody isn’t telling the truth there, but we’ll probably never know (nor should we probably care). These bands and their egos are really something. Night Ranger isn’t exactly playing the huge venues they used to, so splitting the money three ways versus four shouldn’t be that much difference in $$. And what about the other musicians, what’s their cut?
How can you say keyboard in NR weren’t a heavy influence with songs like Sister Christian, Four In The Morning, Rumors in the Air and heck the keys in Don’t Tell Me You Love Me are all significant? The acoustic version of Don’t Tell Me on Hole In The Sun is noticeably missing the wax/wane keys. I guess the guitarists could play the keys with synths to try and make up for some parts, but a good keyboard player is definitely not easily replaced. If Night Ranger never had had keyboards they would have been a different band. Not saying worse or better, but definitely a different band.
Comment by TDavid — July 21, 2008 @ 1:36 pm PST
Sorry - lost my internet connection, and my entire comment wasn’t posted. Can you delete my previous comment above?
Here is my intended comment, in full:
Keyboards are certainly an important part of the Night Ranger sound…you named a lot of my favorites, and I’ll add Sentimental Street to your list, as well. My point was, they’ve never had a keyboard player in that slot with half the charisma exhibited by Watson, Gillis, Blades, and now Hoekstra. While they are certainly key to the Night Ranger sound, my eyes are all over the madmen Night Ranger guitar players that are all over the stage live, with the signature dueling guitars that you allude to in Drama Queen.
Side note: liner notes are one thing that I certainly miss about the digital experience. I’ve been looking forward to the physical release of the Night Ranger for a while now, to find out the breakdown of lead vocal credits. I still need to get my physical copy to see the official credits, but Kelly Keagy sings a TON of the leads on this album - to the point that you would think that Jack Blades didn’t write much on this album, but in fact, he wrote at least a couple that Kelly takes the lead vocal on. I bring that up, because Kelly sings Drama Queen, since you were wondering…
Album wise, I really liked Seven - I’ve been meaning to put it on my Ipod for a while, in fact….love Peace Sign, and Mother Mayhem, in particular.
Are you a Survivor fan?
Comment by Matt — July 21, 2008 @ 4:43 pm PST
Yeah, I like Survivor — with both singers. Pre and post Eye of The Tiger. The title track of that album is well known but there are a number of other really great songs on it like “The One That Really Matters” and “American Heartbeat.”
Comment by TDavid — July 21, 2008 @ 7:19 pm PST
Nice - I’ve always been a fan of both as well….the Eye of the Tiger album certainly is a great album, with the tunes you already mentioned….I also will throw in “Silver Girl” which has one of the best guitar solos Frankie Sullivan has ever committed to tape (in my opinion)
I highly recommend the three albums that came before that (all with Bickler on vocals) Survivor, Premonition, and Caught In The Game…..I was SO happy when they put those albums out on CD…
Also, since you dig the Jamison years, you’d probably like this cheapie live album…
http://snipurl.com/333ff [www_amazon_com]
Sourced from a live video they put out in the 80s, from the Vital Signs tour.
I saw them (with Night Ranger) at the beginning of the month….former MSG singer Robin McCauley is the lead singer these days, and as much as I was not looking forward to seeing them with him, he actually did a great job.
Also, Peterik and Jamison are working on an album that will be out this fall….can’t WAIT for that!
Comment by Matt — July 22, 2008 @ 8:09 am PST
TDavid - Between Van Halen, Night Ranger, Triumph, Kansas, Rush, Styx, Hagar, Scorpions and a few other commercial bands of the time I don’t know what I would have done through the 80s. I might have taken up the Bangles or something!
Bands seem to go through this. Triumph came to Tulsa a week or so ago. Didn’t go ONLY because Rik Emmett’s not touring with them (due to, you guessed it, bad blood). These bands’ dysfunctions are sometimes the precise tensions that makes them so great.
Comment by Gerald Buckley — July 26, 2008 @ 2:11 pm PST
Rik Emmett not touring with Triumph?! Say it ain’t so!
Comment by TDavid — July 26, 2008 @ 2:49 pm PST
Actually….Rik is back with Triumph…..they played Rocklahoma (which I am guessing is where you missed them) and allegedly will be doing a full scale reunion tour in 2009
http://www.triumphmusic.com/
Comment by Matt — July 26, 2008 @ 2:50 pm PST
Right on, Matt, Triumph is definitely a band I’d like to see in concert live.
Comment by TDavid — July 26, 2008 @ 2:51 pm PST
[…] (check out a review of the new album by my blogging comrade TDavid, here.) […]
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