Let's start in the middle.
'Native Sons' was
Strangeways' second release and the band's first with
Terry Brock. The liner notes to this reissue were written by Dave Ling, currently of Classic Rock magazine, and are essentially an elongated review. Buried in the body of Ling's notes is a reprint of the original review in Kerrang, written by the legendary Derek Oliver.
Oliver is in ecstasy and that's fine. It probably motivated many to buy the album, it did me.
But now, if we're honest, it's perspective that's important. Can we look back twenty years and listen, and still be convinced? You bet your life. This album has more than stood the test of time. It has grown in stature with each passing year, making comparative judgement easy.
Who would have believed that three Scots and a singer from the United States would record the best melodic rock album in history, with
'Walk In The Fire', their third release, trailing close behind. Yes, '
Foreigner 4',
Journey's '
Escape', Survivor's
'Vital Signs', and probably a few more, are all contenders, but those albums have all lost a little of their lustre in recent years, whereas an admittedly remastered
'Native Sons' and '
Walk In The Fire' have been burnished by time.
Strangeways was brothers Ian (he wrote the songs) and David Stewart, the first on guitars, the second on bass. The band was rounded out by drummer Jim Drummond and vocalist
Terry Brock.
But initially, the band's vocalist was Tony Liddell, and it is he who performs on the band's Kevin Elson produced debut. It's clearly the raw material of great
AOR and received appropriate reviews in the UK music press. There are a few high quality tracks here, but the album really serves only as the prequel to '
Native Sons'.
For anyone who hasn't heard '
Native Sons', it was produced by Britain's John Punter, better known at the time for his work with Roxy Music and Slade. It's nothing like the flatpack melodic rock releases we hear far too often nowadays. Albums that assemble into something functional, utilitarian, with only a skin deep resemblance to something a lot more solid and inspired. Unaffected by post modernism and unhindered by today's cynicism,
'Native Sons' is riven with moments of sweetness and old fashioned romance. Brock sings these songs of love, loss and life heartbreakingly across a canvas of melodic rock echoes and shades, loaded up with luscious melodies and inventive arrangements.
'Stand Up And Shout' is a splendid slab of pumping, high octane
AOR. 'So Far Away' and 'Empty Streets' come tantalisingly close to the edge of melodic rock genius. Punter pulls off every trick in the book, borrowing one or two of the best ideas from
Journey and
John Waite albums before alchemising the tracks into something more powerful and long lasting. David Stewart and Jim Drummond lock into rock solid rhythms and Ian Stewart more than gives Neal Schon, Mick Jones and Frankie Sullivan a run for their money.
Elsewhere, 'Goodnight LA's sorrowful swell and 'Only A Fool's achingly romantic sentiments vividly illustrate how best to write and perform an hypnotic, radio friendly ballad.
This reissue comes with four bonus tracks - all are live versions of songs from the first two albums, taken from UK and German gigs in '87&'88 .
In 1989, undeterred by the fact that '
Native Sons' didn't sell as well as the critical acclaim warranted,
Strangeways recorded a third album,
'A Walk In The Fire'. Ian Stewart wanted to demonstrate that as producer, he could come up with that "big
AOR sound" as well as anyone else. It may be just a little shallower and showier than Punter's production on the previous album and may lack his attention to fine textural detail, but with help from John Lee, Stewart's production was remarkably accomplished.
The real problem was that the album was less immediate, taking longer to reach out and touch those awesome melodic moments that the previous album seemed to grasp with ease. Astoundingly, for this very reason it was savaged by the UK music press.
It bursts into life with the awe inspiring 'Where Are They Now', a truly mesmerising point of entry. The stadium sized 'Danger In Your Eyes' and groomed-for-radio 'Every Time You Cry' provide obvious continuity from 'Native Sons'. But most notably, tracks like 'Love Lies Bleeding' and 'Into The Night' add huge heart and soul to
Strangeways' sound and bring a not unnatural celtic flavour to the album, no surprise perhaps, given Ian Stewart's nationality and the fact that he was a big
Thin Lizzy fan.
Again, there are live bonus tracks, this time from the band's January '86 gig at the Batschkapp in Frankfurt.
Unfortunately, '
A Walk In the Fire' fared no better than
'Native Sons' and
Terry Brock jumped ship back to the USA with hardly a backward glance. I once interviewed Ian Stewart, and he spoke expansively and candidly on the life and times of the band in those years. Apparently the departure of Brock, success or no success, became inevitable. Who knows what would have happened if things had been different and Brock had stayed.
Still, as Stewart put it to me in his most memorable quote, "the music industry is just a huge shark, swimming about with its gub open". As many bands have found to their cost, talent, skill and great songwriting guarantees absolutely nothing.
But for
Strangeways,
'Native Sons' and '
A Walk In The Fire' is a lasting legacy.
Ratings:
Strangeways 7/10
NS 10/10
WITF 9.5/10
Written by
Brian Wednesday, April 19, 2006
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