With this album Magnum went for a more melodic and commercial direction with keyboards much higher in the mix than the guitars as opposite how it had been on previous albums. In many band's cases that meant worse music that reached the toplists but in Magnum's case the songs on this album have a really really good quality and it rocks as well as containing incredible powerful ballads. Maybe this is the best Magnum-album of all time, I truly enjoy this one the most together with "Wings Of Heaven" that followed "Vigilante". It also was this album that opened my eyes for the Birmingham's bands music and I have not shut my eyes since!

Superb album all categories! And to top the album the cover itself is a great work of art.

The album reached nr. 24 in UK and nr. 16 in Sweden and was well recieved in many european countries. their rise to fame led to Magnum playing on the 1987 Reading Festival. Drummer Jim Simpson who had played on the last album "On A Storyteller's Night" was replaced by Mickey Barker.

1)Lonely night (8,5) Soft but very good driving song.
2)Need a lot of love (10,0) One of the best hardrockballads of all time!
3)Sometime love (9,5) Incredibly great melodic rock! Not heavy but powerful and full tilt partyrock.

4)Midnight (You won't be sleeping) (7,5) Melodic rock.

5)Red on the highway (7,5) A little too noisy rocker but good anyway.

6)Holy rider (8,0) Heavy, noisy and messy but really good!

7)When the world comes down on you (8,5) Very good powerful ballad.

8)Vigilante (9,5) An 80's hardrockclassic. Driving and powerful with great melody! One of the best of the genre!

9)Back street kid (7,5) Good album-closer.

Score: 8,50

Bob Catley-vocals (b.1947)

Tony Clarkin-guitars (Anthony Michael Clarkin) (b.1946)

Wally Lowe-bass

Mickey Barker-drums

Mark Stanway-keyboards (b.1954)

Dave Alexander
June 3, 1947 – February 10, 1975

Member of the 27 Club

Dave Alexander was the founding bassist for the Stooges.  Formed by Iggy Pop, Ron Ashton, and Scott Asheton in 1967, the Stooges strongly influenced punk, alternative and metal bands for generations to come.  Their “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” is considered one of the most iconic rock songs of the era.  Besides playing bass, Alexander helped out with composing music for, and arranging the band’s first couple of albums.  Unfortunately, Alexander suffered from alcohol addiction which lead to the band firing him in 1970.  On February 10, 1975, Dave Alexander died of pulmonary edema, of fluid accumulation in the lungs, which was likely a result of his drinking.  He was 27 years old.

Ron Asheton
July 17, 1948 – January 1 (?), 2009

Ron Asheton was most famously the lead guitarist for Detroit rock band the Stooges, a garage band lead by the wildly charismatic Iggy Pop.  With the Stooges, Asheton was considered by many as ground zero for what would become known as punk rock some ten years later.  Born in Washington DC, Asheton began playing the guitar at just ten years of age, perhaps tired of the accordion, which he had been playing since he was five.  By the time he turned eighteen, he was living in Ann Arbor, Michigan playing alongside his brother Scott, Iggy Pop and David Alexander in the Stooges.  The band quickly established themselves as a must-see act in and around the Detroit area for their aggressive playing and Pop’s shocking stage antics.  It must be noted that this was still the ‘60s, a time when such blistering noise and in-your-face singing was difficult for many a Woodstock generation to swallow.  But they persevered and soon landed on Elektra Records who released their brilliant self-titled debut in 1969.  It was Asheton’s fuzzy guitars that helped define a sound that was the blueprint for the likes of the Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Ramones and roughly a million more.   By the mid ‘70s, the Stooges had disbanded after three brilliant yet commercially dismal albums.  Asheton and his brother continued to play, both together and in support of other acts for the next several years.  In 2003, Rolling Stone placed Asheton at number 29 in their 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. And to the delight of fans old and new, the Stooges reunited to tour in 2003 and later released The Wierdness, their first album in some 30 years.  On January 6, 2008, Asheton’s assistant called the police after not being able to reach him for a few days.  According to the Ann Arbor News, officers entered Asheton’s home at around midnight and discovered his body on a living room couch, apparently dead for several days.  They did not suspect foul play.  Later reports indicate that Asheton died of an apparent heart attack on either December 31 or January 1.

Scott Asheton
August 16, 1949 – March 16, 2014

Scott Asheton was the drummer for Detroit group the Stooges, a garage band lead by the wildly charismatic Iggy Pop.  With the Stooges, Asheton was considered by many as ground zero for what would become known as punk rock some ten years later.  Born in Washington DC, Asheton was 14 when his family moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan where he eventually co-founded the Stooges with brother, Ron Asheton, Iggy Pop and David Alexander.  After its inception, the band quickly established itself as a must-see act in and around the Detroit area for their aggressive playing and Pop’s shocking stage antics.  It must be noted that this was still the late ‘60s, a time when such blistering noise and in-your-face singing was difficult for many of the Woodstock generation to swallow.  But the Stooges persevered and soon landed on Elektra Records who released their brilliant self-titled debut in 1969. Another album followed before some line-up changes and a third album for Columbia Records.  The band broke up in 1974, so the Asheton brothers continued on, both together and in support of other acts for the next several years. In 2003, the Ashetons and Pop reformed the group.  They released The Weirdness in 2007. In 2011, Asheton suffered a severe stroke following a show in France.  Although it forced him off the road, he contributed to the band’s 2013 release,  Ready To Die.  Scott Asheton was 64 when he died on March 16, 2014.  Cause of death was not immediately released

On one of my favorite band's 2nd LP Molly Hatchet released their best selling album, thank's to the hitsong "Flirtin' With Disaster", a track that still can be heard on collection-albums worldwide. It sure deserved to be a hit and the rest of the songs are played in the same way, hard rocking, party-southern rock with heavy riffing and raw vocals. Just the way I like it! This is a album full of killers-no fillers!

The year after this album was released, singer Danny Joe Brown left the band due to diabetes and other reasons. He returned 3 years later but died in 2005, only 53 years of age. Guitarrist Duane Roland died in 2006, also 53 years old.

1)Whiskey man (8,0)

2)It's all over now (7,5) Cover.

3)One man's pleasure (8,0)

4)Jukin' city (8,0)

5)Boogie no more (8,5)

6)Flirtin' with disaster (8,5)

7)Good rockin' (8,0)

8)Gunsmoke (8,0)

9)Long time (8,0)

10)Let the good times roll (8,0)

Score: 8,05

Danny Joe Brown-vocals (1951-2005)

Dave Hlubek-guitars (b.1951)

Steve Holland-guitars

Duane Roland-guitars (1953-2006)

Banner Thomas-bass

Bruce Crump-drums (b.1957)

The history of one of my all time favorite bands Scorpions begins as early as 1965! Rudolf Schenker played guitar and also sang on the beatinfluenced music they played in the first years. In 1970 Rudolf's younger brother Michael and vocalist Klaus Meine joined the band leading to "Lonesome Crow" being released in 1972 followed by a tour where they supported UFO. During the tour Michael accepted an offer to join UFO instead and Scorpions called in Uli Roth to take over Michael's parts. The band split up and later Rudolf joined Uli Roth's band Dawn Road, a band that took the name Scorpions since the name was already known in Germany.

This album is really only psychadelia and progressive heavy rock popular at the time, not much of the later hardrock that they would develop to play later on. But I really like this album, I love progressive rock and hardrock and these songs are among the better albums of the kind from that area, that's for sure. It's heavy, have some nice playing, good production and great vocals along with interesting music.

1)I'm going mad (7,5) Psychadelic mexican rhythms with talked vocals. Unique!

2)It all depends (8,5) Very cool bass- and drumdriven song with some crazy guitarwork. Reminds of "Electric Funeral" by Black Sabbath.

3)Leave me (7,5) Spacy psychadelic and calm, sounds like pornomoviemusic interupted by nice inferno at the end.

4)In search of the piece of mind (6,0) It doesn't get much more psychadelic than this! Charming crazyness and sometimes melodic.

5)Inheritance (7,5) Smooth and gentle.

6)Action (7,0)

7)Lonesome crow (9,0) A truly remarkable progclassic! It has all the elements of a good progger; 13 minutes long, variated themes, up-tempo and slow, good guitarplaying, spacy and crazy but all the time with the melody present.

Score: 7,57

Klaus Meine-vocals (b.1948)

Michael Schenker-guitars (b.1955)

Rudolf Schenker-guitars (b.1948)

Lothar Heimberg-bass

Wolfgang Dziony-drums

2nd album from 1980's synth-duo The Communards continued where their debut from the year before started, which means a mix of good and not so good synhesizerbased synth-pop and very female-ish male vocals. I really like some of this band's songs, they stay as strong as any Yazoo-song in power and melody, but unfortunately there are some songs that are quite under par.  Anyway, the album reached nr. 4 on the UK chart. It would last 7 years until they released another album. "Never can say goodbye" is a version of the song sang by Jackson 5 and Gloria Gaynor.

1)Tomorrow (7,0)

2)T.M.T./T.B.M.G. (There's more to life than boy meets girl) (7,5)

3)Matter of opinion (5,0)

4)Victims (6,5)

5)For a friend (5,5)

6)Never can say goodbye (7,0)

7)Lovers and friends (3,0)

8)Hold on tight (6,5)

9)If I could tell you (3,0)

10)C minor (5,0)

Score: 5,60

Jimmy Sommerville-vocals (b.1961)

Richard Coles-keyboards, piano and organ (b.1962)

+ many musicians

I really like the cover of Smashing Pumpkins' 9th studioalbum! The music is progressive hardrock/rock/pop with Billy Corgan's unique nasal vocals making much of the melody in the songs. Good first 4 songs but then it looses tempo and after 9 songs I have fallen asleep. There are no bad songs though, it's just too soft to keep my interest up. It's very spacy and big sounding and I really like the incredibly intense drumwork on the whole album.

1)Quasar (7,0) Progressive and chaotic song with wild weird drumming. Cool.

2)Panopticon (7,0) Sames as above but more melodic.

3)The celestials (8,0) First melodic acoustic and then a very good hardrock song.

4)Violete rays (7,0) Nice melodic piece.

5)My love is winter (7,0) Same as above.

6)One diamond, one heart (5,5) Synth-beat with spacy guitars.

7)Pinwheels (5,0) First a long pling-plong-play with synhesizers and then acoustic progressive pop.

8)Oceania (6,0) 9 minutes of halfboring but halfcharming progressive popmusic.

9)Pale horse (5,5)

10)The chimera (7,5)

11)Glissandra (6,5)

12)Inkless (6,5)

13)Wildflower (4,0)

Score: 6,35

Billy Corgan-vocals, guitars and keyboards (b.1967)

Jeff Schroeder-guitars (b.1974)

Nicole Fiorentino-bass (b.1979)

Mike Byrne-drums (b.1990)