Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Damn Yankees - Damn Yankees

Here's a brief history of the band Damn Yankees, and how they work in theory, kind of work in practice, and more or less can pull off an album. But that all depends on taste, and perspective. You start with Tommy Shaw covering rhythm and lead guitars, lead and backing vocals, plus he wrote some of my favourite Styx songs. Then there's Jack Blades doing bass guitar, lead and backing vocals and coming from Night Ranger, and please feel free to start mocking, because I do. This is followed by Ted Nugent covering lead and rhythm guitars, plus backing and lead vocals. Also, since it's Ted Nugent that should pretty much cover it. His Ego has more than covered the rest. Then you finish with Michael Cartellone, with drums, percussion, and backing vocals. Prior to Damn Yankees he was pretty much unknown.

Sounds like a decent enough mix to me, and for the most part it's a pretty good Supergroup, as long as you like early 90's Hard Rock. Production is a problem for this album, and makes it sound very dated. I can say that it's Ron Nevison that is responsible for most complaints I would have. When I look at some of the albums he's done, most notably Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti, I can tell he has a finger print style. Then when you mix that with the Night Ranger influence it sort of messes things up.

I'm also not fond of the complete lack of bass on many songs. It would seem Jack can't sing and play at the same time. That's okay though, because the lyrics for the most part are pretty typical. They are either about getting chicks, wanting chicks, or being Rock bad boys that have all the chicks.

The first track on the album, Coming Of Age is a good song. I don't like it as much now as I did when I first bought this album. It has pretty much no bass, and the drums sound thin, but the guitar work is decent, and the vocals are well done. It's a total single for that time in music history.

Bad Reputation is much better. It has the proper vibe musically for a song with it's title, and it's kick ass listening to Ted and Tommy really play back and forth with each other. I could do without the over produced chorus sections. This song is the musicians (and that means everyone except for Jack) to get to show what they can do, and it's good.

The guitarists are the only good thing about Runaway, unless you are into Rock of this era, and style. Ted and Tommy work well together. I would have liked to have heard the two of them put out some albums together, instead of Blades and Shaw.

Unless you like early 90's accoustic ballads, before Grunge made them cool, with a small string section mixed in, you should skip High Enough.

The best cuts on this album are the album tracks. Damn Yankees is another brutal track, and I mean that in a good way. It's a bit partiotic sounding, but what do you expect from Deadly Teddly, and that's the only bad thing to say. Other than that it's pretty much a whole bunch of guitar masterbation and some verse peppered in for texture. This includes one from Ted in which if most people don't know how he sings, might think he was trying to seem cool and rap.

Just because a song is accoustic and slow, doesn't mean it's some pussy ballad. "I was a loner crusin' with the wind / I wasn't lookin' when you pulled me in / I had to leave you like I always did / You knew damn well I'd come again / Now I'm falling where I've never been / My resistance is wearing thin / Somewhere in the distance / like a long lost friend / Whoa oh oh oh, yeah-- / Lord, here I come again / Come again".

Then it get's all Rock and bad ass, while still rocking the accoustic. "Yeah / Been so long since I've seen you girl / Swear I've been around the world / Every room is an empty space / In the darkness I see your face / Whoa Whoa Whoa / Whoa Whoa Whoa / Whoa Whoa Whoa / When I finally get my hands on you / Tell you what I'm gonna do / Lay you down, strip you bare / Make love to you till the morning comes around / I wasn't lookin' when you pulled me in / Whoa oh oh oh / Yeah-- / Lord, here I come again / Come again / Come again / I said Lord [yell]".

At this point the guitars kick in, and Ted as well as Tommy open it up and go full tilt, blowing this track wide open. Then it comes back to the heavy rockin' with the electric/accoustic mix, awesomely well done. Then it finishes as it started, but with some extra string for texture. They weren't needed.

Mystified is wicked cool. This has all kinds of guitar, and I have no clue who's doing what, all I know is that Tommy and Ted make me drool. This is some Blues, and it's played like the Blues is meant to be played. However, the production makes it sound cheap. This track reminds me a bit of Rag Doll from Aerosmith, but with two much better guitarists. Sorry Joe.

You know how it sounds when Ted Nugent opens up with a riff, and you instantly want to throw your hand in the air and bang your head? Now picture that with vocals that sound like Billy Idol, right up until the chorus (which is shit), and that covers this song. If it weren't for the choruses this song would be so much better, instead it comes off as cheap tacky. It's one of those Republican Robots chant U!S!A! and have nothing of any actual substance to say. However, this one at least has some cool guitars.

Tell Me How You Want It is one of those tracks that would have been a Night Ranger radio single, and it would have even been pretty decent, but just not my thing. However, this is one of those tracks my buddy Pat would probably totally be into. Actually he'd dig the entire album I think.

My favourite track on this album has always been Piledriver. It's pretty much the band going nuts, riffing about and letting their Rock go wild. This is that crazy stuff your parents warned you about.

To me the weakest part of this album is the production (the sound is crystal clear and the mix is balanced well for the most part) and Jack Blades' performance contributions. Michael Cartellone handles the drums and percussion in a pretty standard approach, but I've had the luxury of seeing him perform live with Ted outside of Damn Yankees, and I know it's just an album thing. Tommy and Ted are awesome and I just can't gush enough about them. I would suggest this album to anyone into late Eighties early Nineties Rock, but stay clear if that's not your thing. There's a bit too much hair on most of these tracks.

7/10 - content

5/10 - production

6/10 - personal bias

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