Great Metal Albums of 1989: Vow Wow- Helter Skelter

Let’s start with the obvious, yes, Vow Wow’s album is named after a famous Beatles song and the one which can be said was the Fab Four’s contribution to heavy metal. Saying that, Vow Wow’s cover of the song is very good and it does appear on that compilation album I keep going on about. It also gives me another idea which I’ll talk more about at the end of the post.

Another point about Vow Wow, which I’m sure I stated when I posted about their previous album, “V.” They were to England what Loudness was to America, a great Japanese metal band which everyone thought kicked ass. It’s a bit of a shame that either band didn’t seem to get traction in the other country. I guess it proves that the US and the UK are two peoples separated by the same language.

The first two tracks of “Helter Skelter” are decent tracks but I also think they were more oriented for commercial radio. For me, the album doesn’t really kick into gear till the third track, “Spellbound” and no it’s not a cover of the Triumph classic. This is a great tune, my favourite on the album and I guess you could call it the hidden gem. From the kick ass guitar intro you get a good steady rocking with some great vocals and backing vocals and you get a cool keyboard/guitar solo tradeoff between Kyoji Yamamoto and Rei Astumi.

After the title track comes the first of two power ballads, “The Boy.” Genki Hitomi does pour his heart into it but I must say, I think he and Minoru Nihara are cut from the same mold in regards to their vocal styles. This is no way a bad thing. One ever so slight disappointment comes in the form of “Rock Me Now.” This track would have rocked me more if the keyboards had been turned down and the guitars turned up! Fortunately, the next track, “Turn on the Night” does rock out and rocks out totally although it does sound a little Kiss-ish. Kyoji’s guitar solo is top notch.

“Never Let You Go” is the second power ballad and Genki sings it with the same conviction as he does “The Boy.” There is some good drumming from Toshihiro Niimi. Then we get back to some rocking with “Night By Night.” However, the album ends as it began with two more commercial friendly tracks although there is a bit of swagger to the penultimate track and the closer is the perfect choice for the job.

Track Listing:

1. Feel the Power
2. Talking ‘Bout You
3. Spellbound
4. Helter Skelter
5. The Boy
6. Rock Me Now
7. Turn on the Night
8. Never Let You Go
9. Night By Night
10. You’re the One For Me
11. Sign of the Times

Vow Wow

Genki Hitomi- vocals

Kyoji Yamamoto- guitars

Rei Astumi- keyboards

Neil Murray- bass

Toshihiro- Niimi- drums

“Helter Skelter” is a solid offering from Vow Wow. Somebody should have suggested a joint tour between them and Loudness, this way we would have had a double whammy of great Japanese metal.

On the subject of the song “Helter Skelter,” there have been so many covers of this classic Beatles song that I propose a post of deciding which one we like most or the original. I formally invite all of you to contribute to a massive joint post on the subject.

Next post: MASS- Voices in the Night

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Great Metal Albums of 1989: Loudness- Soldier of Fortune

Thinking about my comment about Billy Squier being the best American artist not to have made it in Britain, Loudness gets the gong for best Japanese band to have cracked America but not Britain. In the UK, the big Japanese metal band was Vow Wow but that’s a story for another day. This is the only reason why Loudness’s 1989, “Soldier of Fortune,” passed me by in that year. It didn’t make any headway in Britain.

Before recording the album, lead singer, Minoru Nihara, left the band after the band’s manager suggested that Loudness would have more success in America if they had a real English speaking singer. Soap box alert: If I had known this back then, I wouldn’t have been happy because I have always liked Nihara as a singer and so what if he sang better in English than he spoke the language. He has always been one of my favourite vocalists. Soap box moment over.

With all that said, I did listen to “Soldier of Fortune” with an open mind. For me, the power and glam Loudness brought to their albums remained. Massayoshi Yamashita Munetaka Higuchi are a reliable, if not formidable rhythm section and Akira Takasaki shows the world that he’s still a shredder who should be taken seriously. As for the newly acquired American vocalist, Michael Vescera, to me he sounds very similar to his predecessor in vocal style. At times I thought that it was actually Nihara singing, so there are no earth shattering changes here.

In a nutshell, it seems that on “Soldier of Fortune,” Loudness were trying to recopy the formula which made their iconic “Thunder in the East” album so good. It starts with some powerful songs with the second track, “You Shook Me,” released as a single. The song was single material, too bad the public didn’t buy it but a good metal song. The track, “Danger of Love,” comes in with an acoustic intro before the power kicks in. The song sounds very Scorpions like, not a bad thing but you still know it’s Loudness.

Where things go a bit different is on the track, “25 Days of From Home.” This sounds more jazz infused and not something one would expect from a metal band. It’s like a ballad but it’s not. Still, it doesn’t seem out of place on the album. Maybe because Akira plays a blinder of a solo on it. However, it doesn’t take long to get back to the metal as the hidden gem, “Red Light Shooter,” comes in. Pure metal done the way Loudness does it best. For those who might be wondering, the song is about someone who jumps traffic lights and not to be confused with city districts given that name.

Loudness go almost speed metal on “Running for Cover,” as it’s done at a very fast pace dragging the melody with it. There are some cool guitar hooks in it. Then it slows down for the more ballad sounding, “Lost Without Your Love.” It is on this track that you know for sure it’s Michael singing and he does a good job but it’s the little progressive sounding guitar hook at the intro which really grabbed my attention. More power metal returns on “Faces in the Fire” and continues with “Long After Midnight.” I do like the guitar work on both songs and the harmonizing at the chorus of the latter. That brings us to the closer, the rip roaring “Demon Disease” and a good closer it does make.

Track Listing:

1. Soldier of Fortune
2. You Shook Me
3. Danger of Love
4. 25 Days From Home
5. Red Light Shooter
6. Running For Cover
7. Lost Without Your Love
8. Faces in the Fire
9. Long After Midnight
10. Demon Disease

Loudness

Michael Vescera- vocals

Akira Takasaki- guitar

Massayoshi Yamashita- bass

Munetaka Higuchi- drums

Additional Musician:

Claude Schell- keyboards

This is the second straight album Claude played on. Was he trying to be Steve Lukather?

No matter if you’re in the Vescera camp or the Nihara one, Loudness would fade into obscurity in America, although they would continue to rule in their homeland of Japan. However, this was down to other changes in the wind and not to the change in the singer, though I’m still a Minoru Nihara fan to the end.

Next post: Extreme

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Great Metal Albums of 1987: Loudness- Hurricane Eyes

While I was enjoying the sounds of Vow Wow in the UK during 1987, over in America, Loudness had put out another album titled “Hurricane Eyes.” It still amazes me how two bands from the same country got more appreciation in one country or another. Anyway, news of Loudness’s new album did reach me in the UK.

My initial reaction to “Hurricane Eyes” was that Loudness had come back harder and heavier than their charting previous albums “Thunder in the East” and “Lightning Strikes.” While “Thunder in the East” leaned towards melodic metal and “Lighting Strikes” did have song songs bordering on thrash, “Hurricane Eyes,” while not thrash, goes more in that direction. The first two tracks send that message loud and clear. Both tracks are quite heavy and I love how Munetaka Higuchi’s drum solo ushers in the album. It lets you know that Loudness are serious. Furthermore, Akira Takasaki rips a blinding guitar solo on the second track.

Track three, “Rock and Roll Gypsy” is a little more melodic proving that the band hasn’t abandoned what they had done on “Thunder in the East.” However, it is complemented by some hard pounding rhythm and full marks must go to Masayoshi Yamashita for his bass work on this track. Then on the track, “In My Dreams,” I ask myself, “How could have this cool power ballad escaped my detection?” This is a belter of a power ballad with the soft guitars followed by power chords on the chorus and a great guitar solo. However, while Minoru Nihara proves he is the great singer I always thought he was on the entire album, he particularly shines on this track as does the rest of the band.

Naturally, after a great power ballad, they must go back to more furious metal, which the band does on “Take Me Home” and continues it on “Strike of the Sword.” These are two tracks to get the blood coursing through your veins. I can almost envision a mosh pit forming on “Strike of the Sword.” Though things might seem to slow down on the next three tracks, it is only slightly. Besides, Akira’s guitar solo intro on “Rock This Way” definitely grabs your attention. What the song lacks in speed, it makes up in power chords. I want to rock their way. Then we get the mid tempo “In This World Beyond,” which gives me memories of their colossal “Crazy Nights.” Munetaka plays some heavy drums on this one. More melodic metal is the penultimate track, “Hungry Hunter” but closing the album out is the ballad “So Lonely.” While not as brilliant as “In My Dreams” in the power ballad stakes, it does take things out in the right mind.

Track Listing:

1. S.D.I.
2. This Lonely Heart
3. Rock and Roll Gypsy
4. In My Dreams
5. Take Me Home
6. Strike of the Sword
7. Rock This Way
8. In This World Beyond
9. Hungry Hunter
10. So Lonely

Loudness

Minoru Nihara- vocals

Akira Takasaki- guitar

Masayoshi Yamashita- bass

Munetaka Higuchi- drums

Refamiliarizing myself with “Hurricane Eyes” after so many years, I can say that the album has grown on me. While I don’t think it quite comes up to the dizzy heights of their previous two albums, I like the direction the album was taking the band at the time. This turned out to be a real power rocker.

Next post: Desmond Child

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Great Metal Albums of 1987: Vow Wow- V

Shortly after my arrival on British shores in 1986, I was introduced to Japanese metal band Vow Wow. By 1987, I was definitely hooked on them and I had arrived at the conclusion that after hearing first Loudness when I was in the States and then these guys in the UK, Japanese metal was something to take seriously. Now, I am not going to compare and contrast these two bands because they have totally different metal styles and I enjoy listening to both bands. I also realize that I said pretty much the same thing when I reviewed Vow Wow’s previous album, “III.” So, I might be an old man whose mind is going but I doubly stand by it, especially after listening to their album, “V.”

Like I wrote when I visited their last album, Vow Wow incorporates keyboards in their music and do so very effectively. Keyboardist Rei Atsumi doesn’t get the credit he deserves because he is really excellent at his craft. He plays superbly on the second track, “Somewhere in the Night.” On the other hand, Vow Wow can definitely rock and the opening track “Don’t Tell Me Lies bears witness to that. The rocking first track and the more melodic second track fuse together very neatly on the third one, “The Girl in Red.” It is very melodic in parts and very hard rocking in others. Kyoji Yamamoto, (the World War 2 buff in me wonders if he is a descendent of the great Japanese admiral), produces some cool guitar hooks and nails the solo. But he does that throughout the album.

One really hard rocking track, which might have been better as the album opener, is “Breakout.” The pounding chords at the beginning give me much to wonder. However, it does slow down to a more bluesy beat in the middle but the power chords do not relent. Kyoji does play a rather impressive guitar solo on it. Actually, I think this track would have been good in any position on the album. What it does is provide a great gateway to the album’s ballad, “Cry No More.” I’m not sure if it was or not but it should have been released as a single, I think it would have broken into the charts and if not, then it’s down to the Duranies of the UK. If I had owned this album, (I listened to a friend’s copy), I would have used this song to put my then girlfriend and future first wife into a romantic mood. This song definitely hits all the spots in that department with the vocals if Genki Hitomi combined with some intimate piano work from Rei but there are just enough power chords for the males not to think it had gone wimpy.

“Same Town” is a mid temp rocker which has some more excellent keyboard work Mr. Atsumi. It sounds like they use a choir towards the end. Magnificent drum rolls from Toshihiro Niimi begin the bluesy “Born to Die.” Genki’s vocals sound make the song sound like it would be perfect as a movie opener but I never heard any movie opening song that had a ripping guitar solo like this one does. Maybe they should use it for a film. I want to suggest either of my two books but I already have a song in mind should they ever decide to make “Rock and Roll Children” into a film. Therefore, it has to be my other novel, “He Was Weird.” Actually, that might fit!

Things chug along nicely with “Waited for a Lifetime.” This is more a straight ahead rocker but there is an interesting sound of the guitars sounding a little like chimes. It’s Neil Murray’s bass which keeps the song chugging along. The rocking party continues with “Don’t Leave Me Now.” This is the first track with backing vocals and they can be heard through Yamamoto’s guitar solo. “War Man” is the perfect closer for “V.” While it might not sound like one at first, the choir sounding backing vocals make it that perfect choice. Before the song goes out, the members do get to show their individual wares like a great keyboard solo followed by a great guitar solo. What more can you ask for? Like with “III,” Vow Wow save the best for last.

Track Listing:

1. Don’t Tell Me Lies
2. Somewhere in the Night
3. The Girl in Red
4. Break Out
5. Cry No More
6. Same Time
7. Born to Die
8. Waited for a Lifetime
9. Don’t Leave Me Now
10. War Man

Vow Wow

Genki Hitomi- vocals

Kyoji Yamamoto- guitar

Rei Atsumi- keyboards

Neil Murray- bass

Toshihiro Niimi- drums

I’d like to hear what the ladies think of this song.

After hearing two albums from Loudness and then two albums from Vow Wow, all of the brilliant albums, I can safely say that Japanese metal bands weren’t something to be taken lightly. Both bands wowed many people back in the 1980s.

Next post: Helloween- Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I

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Great Metal Albums of 1986: Loudness- Lightning Strikes

Supporting Saxon on the night of the first ever concert I attended at the Hammersmith Odeon was Japanese metal greats, Loudness. While it was my first time seeing Saxon, unfortunately, I have to admit it was my only time, I had seen Loudness a year earlier with Motley Crue and in my opinion, Loudness blew the Crue away. And while they didn’t blow Saxon away, they were as good as they had been a year earlier.

My anticipation on their next album, “Lightning Strikes,” was just as intense as my anticipation of seeing them live again. After the phenomenal “Thunder in the East,” I couldn’t wait to hear how Loudness would follow it up. Was it as good as its predecessor? To be honest, it was always a difficult task to follow up that album but I must say that “Lightning Strikes” comes pretty close.

They kept the format the same, using the single as the opening track. Finding hard not to compare and contrast, “Crazy Nights” is my all time favourite Loudness song but “Let It Go” is very good. The difference is that Loudness go for more a melodic hard rock sound on the new single, which caught me momentarily off guard but after a good listen, I can say “Let It Go” is definitely a good song.

What the band attempts to do and does it quite well is to create the feeling of the previous album on the new one. “Dark Desire” is a power jam while “1000 Eyes” has an introduction which reminds me a little of the track “Heavy Chains” off “TITE.” It’s still a great track and then comes the hidden gem, “Face to Face.” There is no attempt for melodic hard rock here, it’s almost thrash but Loudness pulls it off. Each member of the band contribute something here. Minoru Nihara shows he can sing at that speed and Akira Takasaki rips a blinder of a solo but it’s the rhythm section which impresses me here. Solid bass chords from Massayoshi Yamashita and frantic drumming from Muneteka Higuchi combine to make it the gem.

After “Who Knows” closes the first side in a way that makes you can’t wait to hear the second side, which opens with a very experimental sounding “Ashes in the Sky.” It is a very interesting track to say the least and I applaud Loudness for not being afraid to explore new territory. Akira does shine on the song with an acoustic intro backed with some power chords and a great guitar solo. It too is a hidden gem but not as big as “Face to Face.”

A second thrash type tune is found on “Black Star Oblivion.” The tempo races but it is here and the following song, “Street Life Dream,” where Akira plays his two best guitar solos. While “Street Life Dream” isn’t thrash, there are good power metal chords to be had. This brings me to the closer, “Complication.” I think it closes the album really well but I have since discovered that “Who Knows” closes the Japanese edition of the album. I can’t see how that would work.

Track Listing:

1. Let It Go
2. Dark Desire
3. 1000 Eyes
4. Face to Face
5. Who Knows
6. Ashes in the Sky
7. Black Star Oblivion
8. Street Life Dream
9. Complication

Loudness

Minoru Nihara- lead vocals

Akira Takasaki- guitar

Massayoshi Yamashita- bass

Maneteka Higuchi- drums

Like I said earlier, Loudness’s 1985 album, “Thunder in the East” was a tough act to follow. However, I think that “Lightning Strikes” does a good job of coming very close.

Next post: Waysted- Save Your Prayers

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1985: The Backlash Begins

Ever since the days of Elvis, there has always been a backlash against rock music and the backlash against heavy metal in particular has always been many folds greater. Whether it be religious fanatics, parents or just trendy top forty followers who just didn’t like the genre, there have been people dead set against heavy metal music. This backlash had been slowly building up throughout the early 1980s but the fact that heavy metal had gotten mainstream attention in 1984 was enough to blow the powder keg in 1985.

The first instance that turned my attention to this backlash was reading letters to MTV citing that they were either playing too much heavy metal or not enough. It would appear that in or around March of 1985, the anti heavy metal brigade won out as MTV made a statement that it would be playing less metal on the air. Now, it’s easy to think that there were that many more anti than pro metal people writing to MTV and if anyone says that it was because metalheads are too stupid to write, me and many of my followers here will be over to your house to kick the crap out of you! Once again I digress but my theory was that by the end of the previous year, MTV was already becoming nothing more than a glorified commercial radio station. Some Dead Kennedys lyrics come to mind here and I’ll reveal those when I visit their “Frankenchrist” album which came out in said year. Oops, digressing again but less and less metal was being played on MTV or the radio.

Dead Kennedys

As 1985 progressed, I began to notice it in more ways. There wasn’t just a backlash against heavy metal but persecution of metalheads as well. One thing I was criticized for in “Rock And Roll Children,” though I don’t regret it one bit, was over pounding the point of how metalheads were discriminated against back then. Truth was they were! I simply pointed this out. Example, based on my own experiences: in 1984, I went to a McDonald’s after the Dio/Twisted Sister concert and had no problems, nor did the many other metalheads who hit up the place after the show. One year later, my friends and I hit the same McDonald’s after the Motley Crue/Loudness concert and upon entry, were greeted by all sorts of negative comments. Also, like in the story, there was an off duty cop in the store pontificating how no one did anything like that in his day and how he busts punks like us for drugs all the time. While, there were no arrests that night, one month later, after seeing Dio, we hit the same McDonald’s and this time, it was like a policeman’s convention. This brings me to another point, while I never saw it happen, there were tales in 1985 of police getting warrants and going into pre-concert parties and busting metalheads. However, they didn’t do that at the Wham concert where I heard eyewitness accounts of 12 year old kids getting falling down, sickly drunk. It was definitely war on metalheads in 1985.

Of course, the more astute of you will recall that in the closing months of the year, the backlash against rock music and especially heavy metal became the subject of a congressional hearing and lead to the formation of the Parents Music Resource Center, (PMRC). Even after more than thirty years, I tend to laugh at this if it wasn’t so pathetic and there will be a post dedicated to that.

In spite of all the doom and gloom, the backlash achieved very little. Great albums were still being made and you’ll get to read about a lot of them. There were other great events and concerts including the most famous one, Live Aid. So, sit back and get ready for another roller coaster year in the golden decade of metal.

Next post: Glenn Frey- The Allnighter

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Great Metal Albums of 1984: Loudness- Disillusion

No further proof is needed to support the fact that heavy metal had the world by the balls in 1984 than the album from Japanese metal greats Loudness, “Disillusion.” As far as I know, this was the first Loudness album to be sung in English. All previous albums had been sung in the band’s native tongue although that did not make them any less kick ass.

Thinking about the above statement, that leads to the one small problem with the album. Minoru Nihara’s vocals are sometimes difficult to hear. This is a shame because it is true he sings better English than what he speaks. I’ve heard interviews with him. What is a further shame is the fact that you can’t hear what a great voice he has. Some of you might remember that when I’ve posted about previous Loudness albums, I compared Minoru Nihara to the likes of Ronnie James Dio, Klaus Meine and Ian Gillan. He certainly belongs in the same league as those just mentioned.

While not being able to fully appreciate Nihara’s vocals on “Disillusion” is a little frustrating at times, it is only a small inconvenience because what does obscure the vocals is the brilliant guitar playing of Akira Takasaki. From the first note of the instrumental opener, he just shreds and riffs all over the album. The solos are superb and even his rhythm guitar parts are done amazingly well. He shines extremely well on the tracks “Butterfly” and his instrumental solo “Exploder.” However, my vote for the favourite track is still “Satisfaction Guaranteed” because Nihara’s vocals come through the clearest on it and he does a good job with them. Of course, Takasaki’s guitar playing guided by a good rhythm section help as well.

Track Listing:

1. Anthem
2. Crazy Doctor
3. Esper
4. Butterfly
5. Revelation
6. Exploder
7. Dream Fantasy
8. Milky Way
9. Satisfaction Guaranteed
10. Ares’ Lament

Loudness

Minoru Nihara- lead vocals

Akira Takasaki- guitar

Masayoshi Yamashita- bass, taurus pedals

Munetaka Higuchi- drums

“Disillusion” put Loudness on the metal map in the West and set the stage for the following album which would propel them to greatness. It also proved that culture, race, or national borders had nothing to do with enjoying great metal.

BTW, I will be purchasing my tickets for Sunday’s Download tonight.

Next post: Triumph- Thunder 7

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Great Metal Albums of 1982: Whitesnake- Saints and Sinners

Funny old world isn’t it? Even though I was in their native country in late 1982, I never heard anything of Loudness. On the other hand, the rock bar I frequented quite a bit on Okinawa introduced me to an English heavy metal band called Whitesnake. For the life of me, I can’t remember which Whitesnake songs got played but I do know that I liked them. Hell, I can’t even say if any of the songs were from the album I’m about to post on here.

As much as I like what I heard from Whitesnake, I never got around to exploring them more, silly me. I even had the chance to see them live in the summer of 83 but that’s another story. It wouldn’t be until another year after that I would finally listen to them in earnest. Furthermore, it was only when I got to England two years after that, that I made any attempt to listen to their earlier stuff, was I a fool? Judging from the album, “Saints and Sinners,” most definitely so.

“Saints and Sinners” is a much harder offering than the more commercial oriented material from later on in the 80s, which many people are more familiar with. What I found amusing about this album was the early recordings of songs that would be stripped down to sound more commercial in the years on. There is an innocence with the version of “Here I Go Again” on the album, that while I won’t go onto say it’s better than the commercialized version, (it’s certainly not worse), it does sound more genuine. Sort of the same can be said of “Crying in the Rain.” The version I have on the “Greatest Hits” album doesn’t sound like this one. I don’t remember hearing such a killer guitar solo on the hits album nor does it make me rock along to it as much.

Many of the other songs are cool rockers as well. “Youngblood,” “Victim of Love,” “Rock and Roll Angels” and the closing title track all fit the bill in my book. Then again, should I have expected anything less with former Deep Purple members Jon Lord and Ian Paice in the band. Furthermore, I have finally come to appreciate the guitar talents of Moody and Marsden. Of course, I won’t take anything away from David Coverdale as I have always rated him an extremely talented vocalist and should have put him in the same club with the other names I suggested Minoru Nihara join.

Track Listing:

1. Youngblood
2. Rough and Ready
3. Bloody Luxury
4. Victim of Love
5. Crying in the Rain
6. Here I Go Again
7. Love and Affection
8. Rock and Roll Angels
9. Dancing Girls
10. Saints and Sinners

Whitesnake (line up for Saints and Sinners)

David Coverdale- vocals

Mick Moody- guitar, vocals

Bernie Marsden- guitar

Jon Lord- keyboards

Neil Murray- bass

Ian Paice- drums

Maybe when I began posting about the year 1982, I should have called it “The Year So Many Albums Passed Me By.” Yes, I can blame it on being overseas in the military but I had no excuse with this one. As a result, I missed what turns out to be a Whitesnake album from the days they really rocked.

Next post: Twisted Sister- Rough Cuts

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Also available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Froogle and on sale at Foyles Book Shop in London

 

Great Metal Albums of 1982: Loudness- Devil Soldier

Funny thing about Loudness, I spent the last three months of 1982 and the first three of 1983 in their home country, Japan, and never heard of them. Thinking back to my time there, I do not remember hearing any home grown music of any kind. The juke boxes in any bar I went to or even in the night clubs, all they seemed to play was Western music. My conclusion is that the Japanese are more receptive to Western music and for an act to make it there, it has to first make it outside of Japan. Loudness would certainly do that three years later but at this time, they would remain beyond my attention.

One thing that Loudness certainly prove with their second album, “Devil Soldier,” is that metal can rule no matter what language it’s sung in. As long as there is a great band behind a brilliant voice, great metal can break down barriers. Some of the songs are sung in the native tongue with some parts sung in English. Take “Rock the Nation,” I tried to follow along with the lyrics written down in English but they didn’t sound like English to me, except for parts of the chorus. Nevertheless, lead singer Minoru Nihara sings it very well and he is yet another singer whose talents haven’t been given the respect it deserves. I’m going to put my hand in the piranha’s tank and put him in the same class as Dio, Meine and Gillan. His vocals just come through on each and every song.

Talking about talent, guitarist Akira Takasaki has gotten some well deserved respect. Some have said that he copies other great guitarists but I don’t hear it. The closest he or the band in general come to copying is on the title track where the beginning of the song reminds me of Heart’s classic “Barracuda.” Thinking about it, I did see that song on at least one juke box when I was in Japan. Back to the subject, Akira lays down some good riffs on many songs, most notably, “Hard Workin'” and “Angel Dust.” When he’s not shredding, he does very well in accompaniment with the rhythm section. So, what do I think? Simply, this album kicks ass.

Track Listing:

1. Lonely Player
2. Angel Dust
3. After Illusion
4. Girl
5. Hard Workin’
6. Loving Maid
7. Rock the Nation
8. Devil Soldier

Loudness

Minoru Nihara- vocals

Akira Takasaki- guitar

Masayoshi Yamashita- bass

Munetaka Higuchi- drums

In 1985, many in the West would say that thunder would come from the east and it did. However, in 1982, Loudness were still gearing up for their conquest with a great album in “Devil Soldier.” It’s proof to me that heavy metal could unite the world.

Next post: Whitesnake- Saints and Sinners

To buy Rock and Roll Children, go to http://www.strategicpublishingroup.com/title/RockAndRollChildren.html

Also available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Froogle and on sale at Foyles Book Shop in London