Year : 1989 (Rock Candy Remastered 2010)
Style : Melodic Hard Rock
Country : United States
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans + Videos
Size : 209 mb
Bio:
Badlands was a band founded by former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Jake E. Lee and former Black Sabbath members Ray Gillen and Eric Singer. Badlands also featured bassist Greg Chaisson. After the first Badlands album, Eric Singer was replaced by Jeff Martin. The group lasted from 1988 to 1993 and released two albums, Badlands (1989) and Voodoo Highway (1991) before Gillen left and was replaced by singer John West from New York. Ray's death in 1993 effectively ended any hopes of re-uniting the project. The album Dusk (a demo recorded in 1992 - 1993) was posthumously released in 1998.After touring with Ozzy Osbourne in support of the Ultimate Sin album, Lee was fired in a telegram from Sharon Osbourne while working on one of his muscle cars back in Los Angeles. Lee was completely caught off guard at the time of his firing as he was under the impression he had a solid working gig with the Osbourne camp. Wishing to distance himself as much as possible from his former boss, he set about looking for a charismatic front man with which to launch a new band. He found just that when he met Ray Gillen, a struggling vocalist who had just been separated from Black Sabbath after a short time. Within weeks, the duo had enlisted bassist Greg Chaisson, whom Lee had met during an Ozzy audition. According to Lee, Greg was dismissed from the audition before he had the chance to set up his equipment. Ozzy told him to leave because he showed up for the audition wearing sweat pants. Gillen’s former Black Sabbath bandmate Eric Singer on drums. With melodic sensibilities and solid chops, each member of the band proved a cornerstone creatively, while presenting energetic live shows with flawless musicality.The band released Badlands in June 1989 to good reviews. The band released videos for the songs "Dreams in the Dark" and the Zeppelin-like "Winter’s Call," and both enjoyed decent airplay on MTV. This boosted the album to its peak on Billboard’s album charts at no. 57.Eric Singer soon quit Badlands and later joined Paul Stanley's solo club band which later earned him a new job with KISS following the death of drummer Eric Carr. Badlands picked up Jeff Martin, former vocalist for Racer X and band mate of Greg Chaisson's in Phoenix-based bands Surgical Steel and St. Michael, to take over on drums, and the band released Voodoo Highway in 1991. However, Badlands was slowly breaking apart at the seams. During the recording process, Lee accused Gillen of conspiring with their label to push the band in a more commercial direction. This subsequently led to Gillen being fired. However, since a tour of the UK had already been booked, the vocalist was temporarily re-admitted for its completion. Unfortunately, this wasn't well-publicised in the UK press and the tour attendance was possibly affected.While Voodoo Highway was being recorded and produced, band tensions began to rise. Among other things, the band refused to cooperate with Atlantic Records, who demanded a songwriter (Desmond Child) be hired to help write songs with the band, with Lee stating that the band would "rather make money touring than releasing an album [they] did not believe in." Meanwhile, Gillen had been writing his own material that the band could supposedly use and had called Atlantic to tell them he had completed three or four songs that all had potential to be hits. However, after he presented these songs to the band, Gillen found his bandmates unwilling to record them. Gillen then called Atlantic again, attempting to convince the label to pressure the band into recording his songs. The band continued to refuse, claiming the songs were of an average standard.Due to this band drama, as well as changes in the musical climate at that time (the fizzling out of heavy metal, and subsequent rise of alternative rock), Atlantic subsequently dropped them shortly after their second album was released. In addition, the dispute over the recorded Gillen material led him to quit the band with claims that Lee was a lazy musician, unlike his former band mate Tony Iommi. Lee hired Debby Holiday from the band Stiletto to replace Gillen on their UK tour; however, Badlands drafted Gillen back in to complete the tour before he officially exited the band.
Album:
BADLANDS first, self-titled album remastered by Rock Candy Records with a bonus track. The Rock Candy reissue appeared some years ago alongside Badlands' second record, and it was about time for these killer albums to receive a remaster and become available again as the original CD pressings were long time out of print being sold on eBay for a jillion dollars... But guess what... both Badlands Rock Candy remasters were on sale only few months due to Ray Gillen's estate / family claim. So this "Badlands Rock Candy Remaster" reissue was retired from the market and it's Out Of Print again.Badlands self-titled debut release is a collection of terrific blues flavored hard rock songs that is raw and laden with emotion. The late (RIP) Ray Gillen voice is perfectly suited to the genre displaying a wide tonal range in a variety of styles, from all out rockers to slow bluesy ballads. His ability to infuse genuine feeling into the music is one of the keys to its appeal. Beside Gillen's vocal talents, Badlands also features the considerable skills of guitarist Jake E. Lee, the man who came to replace Randy Rhoads in Ozzy Osboune's band. Badlands was founded by Lee looking for a more organic, classic hard rock band sound.The frenetic energy that powered Ozzy's material are channeled in Badlands into a completely different direction. The results, while perhaps not as manic, are still very powerful in a different way. Instead of starting at full throttle, more often the energy and tension are allowed to build, before being released. Lee's tone, style and phrasing, bear little similarity to his playing with Ozzy, but his desire to play this type of music was the reason he left Osbourne's band. With a cleaner guitar tone, Lee's fluid playing style can more easily be heard, and appreciated. Rounding out the band is a monster rhythm section. The excellent Eric Singer energetically handles the drumming duties, and Greg Chaisson provide the deep bass foundation. Put simply, "Badlands" rocks hard with tons of feeling.All tracks are pure gold, such as the beast "Streets Cry Freedom", a great showcase for Gillen's haunting vocal. As the song builds, Lee's guitar takes flight, including a spacey side guitar solo. "High Wire" finds Badlands' brand of blues, closest to the traditional hard rock format but with a late '80s sound, while "Rumblin' Train" will have you stomping your feet as it chugs along, with Gillen and Lee stoking the engine to the end of the line. "Dancing on the Edge" opens with a muted scratching riff that progresses into one of the album's faster numbers. Lee's solo is vibrant, full of twists and turns, with a flurry of pulloffs, reminiscent of this playing with Ozzy. With a song structure that is all over the map, the un-traditional blues of "Devil's Stomp" is perhaps the collection's most musically intriguing tune. Always a favorite of mine "Seasons" is the best of the slow numbers, a beautiful song that features one of Ray Gillen's finest vocals. The mood is reminiscent of Zeppelin, with an American flavor.On the more commercial side, the bouncy and pretty catchy numbers "Winter Calls" and "Dreams in the Dark" were the two singles taken from the album. But despite both gained valuable MTV exposure, Badlands' brand of gut level classic hard rock didn't quite fit into the glam / hair metal scene of the time, then did not find much of an audience.Reading through the excellent liner notes from the booklet of this Rock Candy reissue, it’s amazing that the album was ever made in the first place. Label executives imagined a far different band than that which they signed, and kept trying to force them into the mold of washed-up hair-metal hacks rather than the young soul rebels they obviously were. Producer Paul O'Neill as well caused a split between the band’s leads (Gillen and Lee) and the rhythm section, and at one point some damn fool suit wanted to toss Lee from the band that he started up in the first place.However, through all the madness and the tension, Badlands created a classic album here, and the band stands today as a pinnacle of the traditional hard rock heights. Tossing aside the hedonism of other Hollywood street rats, and refusing to be bound by trends and expectations Badlands aspired to more, and for a brief shining moment at the end of the '80s, they achieved a rock ‘n’ roll genius status.Badlands recorded a great second album titled Voodoo Highway (also remastered by Rock Candy and to be featured here soon), but the untimely death of Ray Gillen put an end to the band. As said, this "Badlands' Rock Candy remastered reissue was retired from the market, hence has become a collector's item.And it's a terrific piece of classic hard rock that you need without hesitation.
Line Up:
Ray Gillen - lead vocals, harmonica
Jake E. Lee - guitar, keyboards
Greg Chaisson - bass
Eric Singer - drums
Tracklist:
01. High Wire 3:43
02. Dreams in the Dark 3:36
03. Jade's Song 1:20
04. Winter's Call 5:32
05. Dancing on the Edge 3:26
06. Streets Cry Freedom 5:30
07. Hard River 4:50
08. Rumblin' Train 5:45
09. Devil's Stomp 4:53
10. Seasons 6:20
11. Ball and Chain 4:07 (Bonus Track)
+ Video "Dreams In The Dark" (Official Video)
+ Video "Winter's Call" (Official Video)
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