In the late 1980's/early 90's, when mainstream metal was becoming saturated with the whole cheese factor of glam metal which included the likes of
Poison and Warrant, an new edgier down to earth hard rock sound was emerging, complete with the better part of pop songwriting combined with the real elements of heavy metal and rock and roll. Around this time many "pre-grunge-era" hard rock/metal bands such as Extreme, Tesla, and Saigon Kick found themselves on mainstream radio/MTV, kicking the glam phoniness out of bounds and bringing the real/down to earth metal to the masses.
At this same time a Canadian band called
Harem Scarem was being looked upon by many record companies in the U.S. and abroad, and finally scored a deal with Warner Bros./WEA. However, despite the fact that this band had major cult status in the U.S., Warner shelved the album in the U.S., leaving what could have been another chapter in some of the best rock to come out of the glam metal hangover closed. But regardless, their self-titled album was available widely in the U.S., and sold decently even though there was absolutely no promotion given to their first album, and it would be Japan and
Europe where
Harem Scarem would find their greatest fan drawing, becoming a big international staple in the Metal scene, even through Metal's downtime in the mid-nineties.
Alas, the embryonic stages of one of Hard Rock's most enduring bands is documented here on, the appropriately titled Early Years. Containing higher quality demos predating their debut recording, The Early Years contains more material in the style of their two first albums, some cuts like
"Whatever I Want," "Looking Back," "Staying Away," and
"One of the Wounded" could have easily been cuts from one of their earlier records, kind of like long lost outtakes for that matter, there is even an early demo for the ballad,
"Honestly," a cut that appeared on the first record.
Some of the cuts like
"Out of Love," "Last Time," and
"When the Morning Comes" show that at that point that the ideas were there for they were about to bleed freely, but had yet to be completely perfected, maintaining that these guys had the perfect stature of material, making one wonder what some of these songs might have sounded like being fully produced. Almost half of the disc is filled with power ballads, some have the cheese factor, but it's to a lesser degree. For one this showcases these guys as musicians and songwriters, and with a little more production, many of these songs would have fit perfectly in with some of the early releases.
So The Early Years is a good compilation for fans searching for more material, and even for those who might want to hear yet an extension to some of the early material, it won't disappoint the fans at all.
Written by
Hashman Wednesday, January 7, 2004
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