Year : 1991 (Japan Edition)
Style : Melodic Hard Rock
Country : United States
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans + Video
Size : 141 mb
Bio:
Baton Rouge were an American hard rock band, formed in 1986 in Pearl River, Louisiana.The band produced two albums and enjoyed limited success during the final part of the hair metal explosion in the early 1990s, before disbanding.All the band members went on to work with other hard rock recording artists and in particular vocalist and guitarist Kelly Keeling performed with Michael Schenker Group and Trans-Siberian Orchestra.The group was originally composed by Lance Bulen (vocals), Kelly Keeling (guitars and keyboards), Keith Harrison (bass) and Harold Knappenberger III(drums).The group began their career under the name Voices, later changed to Cheetah, then to Meridian and finally to Baton Rouge, because of the similar name of the band Melidian.The band relocated to Los Angeles in 1987, experiencing changes of personnel and roles within the group.Keeling assumed the role of frontman, Bulen passed on guitar, and two new members were recruited, bassist Bryan Scott and drummer Corky McClellan.The band, still under the name Cheetah, signed to MCA Records and produced a demo and a song with Jack Ponti, before Scott departed and was replaced by Scott Bender. In 1989, after only six shows in Los Angeles clubs, Atlantic Records put the band under contract .With the collaboration of the two songwriting members of the band Surgin’, Jack Ponti and Vic Pepe (the first had worked on the first album of Bon Jovi), Baton Rouge began rehearsing material for their first album.Meanwhile in 1989, Keeling, Bulen, and Ponti, contributed some songs for the album Point Blank of the German hard rock band Bonfire.The debut album of Baton Rouge, Shake Your Soul , was published in 1990 with the production of Jack Ponti.The album saw the participation of several guest musicians, from drummer Frankie LaRocka of Company of Wolves and the band of John Waite, to Joey Franco, drummer of Good Rats and Twisted Sister, to Bobby Gordon and Randy Cantor on keyboards.The track "There Was a Time (The Storm)" was co-written with Jaime Kyle.Keyboard player David Cremin, is credited in the album and is pictured on the back cover but he did not participate in the recordings.Shake Your Soul peaked at No. 160 in the U.S. charts.Baton Rouge underwent a change of label and another change of formation for the recording of their second album, with the addition of former Keel guitarist Tony Palmucci in place of Cremin.Their second album Lights Out on the Playground was released in 1991 and included the song "Desperate", written by Jack Ponti and also previously recorded by Babylon AD on their album with the same name.The album did not enter the American charts and was a commercial failure.Keeling was very unsatisfied with the music Baton Rouge had been playing and of the band itself, so when he received the offer to enter in Blue Murder, a group founded by guitarist John Sykes (Tygers of Pan Tang, Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake), he accepted the proposal.[9] Consequently, Baton Rouge disbanded in 1991.After the dissolution...Kelly Keeling performed with Blue Murder until 1994 and then collaborated with former Europe guitarist John Norum (1995–1997), Michael Schenker (1999), Erik Norlander (2003), Dokken (2004) and George Lynch (2004) for both their tours and solo efforts. He also pursues a solo career as musician and vocalist.In 2006 he became the vocalist of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.Lance Bulen collaborated with Paul Sabu and Dave Spitz, former bassist of White Lion and Black Sabbath, in a quartet called Insomnia (1993–1994)and in 1996 founded the band Puzzlegut, with former member of XYZ Patt Fontain. Bulen finally formed the band KingBaby in 2004, where he is the lead vocalist and guitarist.He has also worked as touring and session musician with many rock artists during his career after Baton Rouge dissolution.Tony Palmucci was a session and touring player for Twisted Sister's vocalist Dee Snider solo projects.In 1997, Jack Ponti returned to record production after a few years hiatus with a new Baton Rouge album based on some old demos and recruited Keeling as vocalist for the project. Ponti played guitars and keyboards on the album, with the help of bassist Pat Schick, keyboard player Guy Daniel and drummer Camus Celli. In September 1997, the German label MTM Music published the album under the title Baton Rouge. Two of the tracks included on the album were written in collaboration with Stan Bush and "Love's a Loaded Gun" was a cover of the song composed by Ponti, Vic Pepe and Alice Cooper, which appeared on Cooper’s album Hey Stoopid of 1991.The reformed Baton Rouge lasted only for the recording the album. In fact, Keeling never considered the group as a reunion of Baton Rouge.The original line-up of Baton Rouge reunited in 2009 to perform at the Rocklahoma rock music festival held in Pryor, Oklahoma.A permanent reunion of the band never materialized.
Album:
""Lights Out On The Playground" is more proof that Baton Rouge should have been a bigger success than they were. This follow-up to "Shake Your Soul" is not a carbon copy but rather a continuation of the excellence Baton Rouge established on their debut album. It has a more mature (experienced, if you prefer) feel to it and the songs all sound as if they are coming from a well-established super group with a string of gold albums to their credit. "Released in 1991, Baton Rouge's second album Lights Out on the Playground is another in a long list of albums that deserved far more attention that it received at the time.Coming at a time when the charts were dominated by Bon Jovi, Warrant, Steelheart, Slaughter, Damn Yankees and the like, Lights Out on the Playground should have been Baton Rouge's big break. It certainly had all of the right elements. It was a very melodic hard rock album with a definite blues flavor; it featured a dynamic vocalist in Kelly Keeling, and it boasted behind-the-scenes support by former Surgin' mainman Jack Ponti, whose songwriting skills were among the best in the business. His song "Desperate" is one of the best metal ballads ever written, and I'm still perplexed as to how neither Baton Rouge nor Babylon A.D could make a hit of it.Lights Out on the Playground may not have reached a wide audience, but it was still a terrific hard rock album. It may seem dated now, but for those of us who grew up with this kind of "hair metal", this is the kind of music that gets the blood pumping. If you're already a Baton Rouge fan, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't heard Baton Rouge yet, but are a fan of the late 80's and early 90's hard rock sound, you'll definitely want to check out Lights Out on the Playground.NOTE: Wounded Bird reissued Lights Out on the Playground in 2008. Like all Wounded Bird reissues, it has not been digitally remastered, nor does it have any bonus material. It's great to see this forgotten album back in print, but if you already own the 1991 version there's no need to replace it.
Line-Up:
Lance Bulen - guitars, vocals
Kelly Keeling - vocals
Corky McClellan - drums, vocals, percussion
Scott Bender - bass, vocals
Tony Palmucci - guitars, vocals
Tracklist:
01. Slave to the Rhythm 3:26
02. Full Time Body 3:20
03. Tie You Up 3:27
04. Desparate 5:20
05. Tokyo Time 3:25
06. Vampire Kiss 3:42 + The Midge II 1:20
07. The Price of Love 5:05
08. Dreamin' in Black and White 3:53
09. Down by the Torchlight 3:42
10. Light at the End of the Tunnel 3:52
11. Tear Down the Walls 2:58
12. Hotter than Hell 5:54
+ Video "The Price of Love" (Official Video)
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