 DESPERADO
Ace
Angel Air/Cleopatra Records 2006
www.angelair.co.uk
What’s the 4-1-1?
If you take the combined talents of singer Dee Snider, guitarist
Bernie Torme, ex-Iron Maiden drummer Clive Burr, and bassist Marc
Russell, the album they’d produce is bound to be a fantastic
helping of hard rocking music right? The album originally recorded
in 1989 for Elektra Records finally sees an official release some
15 plus years after it was originally supposed to thrill rock fans.
The detailed liner notes give the whole sordid history of how trends
in music and record company politics conspired to bury the album,
and thus the band.
Genre
Rock / hard rock
The Good
The short way to write up this section would be to say this album KICKS ASS!
However, a bit more is expected so here’s a bit more detail.
The album kicks off with the real bluesy harmonica intro to “Hang ‘Em
High.” You can just imagine yourself hearing this as background music to
a western movie. It’s excellent.
The three songs here that I heard originally when they were redone for the first
Widowmaker album Blood and Bullets are “Gone Bad,” “Calling
For You,” and “Emaheevull.”
I was hesitant to hear them because
I was worried that having heard the Widowmaker versions first, that I wouldn’t
like the actual original cuts of the songs. Thankfully that wasn’t the
case. “Gone Bad” sounds pretty much the same in both versions except
I think Dee Snider’s vocals were a bit rougher in the sound mix here, in
a good way. “Calling For You” is superb, period. “Emaheevull” is
as rousing here as the Widowmaker cut.“Heart Is A Lonely Hunter” is a slow burning epic rocker. It’s
7 minutes long and has some fantastic guitar work from Bernie Torme.
While the
playing from everyone involved is top notch to my ears, I really enjoyed “See
You At Sunrise” and “Son Of A Gun” based mainly on the outstanding
guitar work (the outro in “See You At Sunrise” and solo in “Son
Of A Gun” in particular) from Torme.“Ride Thru The Storm” has real catchy chorus. The song is one of
my favorites on the album along with “Hang ‘Em High” and my
favorite track bar none “No Angels Here.”
The Bad
I really found nothing to complain about here worth mentioning. Well, the fact
I had to wait an extra 15 years to be able to play the album is a real pisser,
but that’s not on the band.
The Verdict
The last page in the CD booklet has a couple of lines that sum up the feelings
of the band in regards to Elektra Records and their thoroughly botched
handling of this album back in the early ‘90s. Let me add my voice
to that sentiment which is unprintable here.
Desperado’s Ace has a very raw feel to the music and it serves the band
well. There’s not a moment here that feels like a misstep and it’s
a musical sin of the highest order that the band was denied a chance for me and
other music fans to hear this album until now.
This one goes into my very hard
to crack rotation of CDs that get played all year long.
This is pure solid hard rock and roll with just the right combination of talented
musicians doing what they do best. The writing team of Dee Snider and Bernie
Torme need to provide more for music fans to hear. If you’re truly never
too old to rock and roll, then it’s never too late to hear some long delayed/lost
rock and roll either.
Did You Know?
The CD was released in the UK via Angel Air Records, while the US release was
done through Cleopatra Records.
Clive Burr is no longer able to perform due to his continuing battle with MS
(multiple sclerosis).
Marc Russell ended up staying with singer Dee Snider when the latter formed Widowmaker.
The band lasted 2 albums. Russell’s father was in the original Widowmaker
group from the 1970’s.
Bernie Torme joined Ozzy Osbourne when Randy Rhoads was killed in the infamous
airplane crash.
Rating:  out
of 5
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-- Jay Roberts
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