FIGHT FOR THE ROCK

I love the 'Tage, but this album is the "so-so" pop effort made by the band at the request of the record company, complete with PMRC type warning stickers... yet there were no curse words in any of the songs to be found. It has 3 strong songs and one good one revamped from the earlier days while the rest is not the best if you would wish to dig and rock out to typical 80's hard rock.

Jon's voice and piano/key playing (though my cassette notes say someone else, *Russian type name forgotten-lost cassette*, played synths, which I doubt) and Chris' guitar work are always top notch. The production is pure 80's metal with lots of "verb". Too much on the snare. It starts to sound like Kweensryche (sic).

The songs that are worth it:

The synth intro of "The Edge Of Midnight" is an obvious yet more complex homage to "Mr. Crowley." It's a good rocker with some more synths thrown in the right spots. It's my fav song here. It's worth the album alone.

"Hyde", which to some is the highlight of this album, is a prog-ish metal horror flick in a song. Kind of like what Alice Cooper would have presented... but Savatage does it much better.

"Lady In Disguise" is an upbeat (reworked song in 'Tage's old song Rolodex) ballad that has some piano and synth work. It's got a killer middle 8 and a nice bit out of the solo.

"Red Light Paradise" is another solid rocker sans the prog. Might be about a bordello.

It's not THAT bad. It's not terrible at all. It's not the Savatage we're used to.

All I know is that Atlantic wanted 'Tage to record the songs Jon Oliva wrote for other artists. These proposed songs weren't bonafide 'Tage songs save for "Midnight", "Hyde" and "Red Light". I'm sure Tina Turner or John Waite could rock some of these. I wasn't heart broken when I listened to it as a kid. I liked some of these alot. The others: a Badfinger and a Free cover, and a re-recorded work ("Out On The Streets") didn't work for me. "She's Only Rock And Roll" is kinda like a rockin'-funky vibe like. "Crying For Love" and the title song isn't very good, though.

This album? It's for the fans to gripe about. It is not like "Power Of The Night" ... not like the Savatage we know and love. They come back, however, with the killer "Hall Of The Mountain King" which is highly recommended.

(RIP Chris Oliva)

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