Night Ranger's second album '
Midnight Madness' epitomised the rise of radio friendly rock in the early eighties, yielding up hit singles in
'Sister Christian' and
'You Can Still Rock In America'. And surprisingly, these are songs that took a position on morality and star spangled patriotism, subjects not normally associated with rock music.
Two years and several US tours later, the band released
'Seven Wishes' (1985), turning the concept of the "difficult" third album on its head. This is the recording that cemented Night Ranger's place in the pantheon of melodic rock.
Blades' blossoming skill as a songwriter bore major fruit with the anthemic '
Seven Wishes', the Journey-esque, pop inflected
'Four In The Morning' and the Steinman like melodrama of
'Sentimental Street'.
Pat Glasser's sure hand on the production tiller added verve and invention, gilding the band's radio friendly rock with touches of colour and deft musical moments.
Only the macho posturing of
'I Need A Woman' and the mock heroics of
'This Boy Needs To Rock' date the album.
Elsewhere, the youthful romanticism of '
I Will Follow You', filled with velvet swathed harmonies, and the urgent, driving
'Interstate Love Affair' carry the album upwards and onwards, well out of reach of the chasing pack.
Final track '
Goodbye' is your archetypal eighties' ballad. Lighter waving optional. But few did it as well as Night Ranger. This one, written by Blades and Watson, is determinedly sentimental, neatly understated and is a magnificently apposite album closer.
Arguably the band peaked with '
Seven Wishes'. Certainly their star began descending from this moment on.
Old bands never really die of course and a new album is promised soon.
Written by
Brian Friday, December 15, 2006
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