Oh man, oh man, oh man.
Without fully realising it, I've been waiting for this melodic rock moment for 17 years.
Why? My original CD of
T Ride's one and only recording got stolen by some discerning but obviously dishonest rock music lover within months of me buying it.
I never replaced it. Don't know why.
T Ride arrived on the melodic rock scene in 1991 unannounced, not with an entry level product but with a flamboyant, top of the range, cutting edge, fully formed masterpiece.
Some bands will shovel in the ballast, stretching the playing time to an industry standard 45 minutes or more. Others (and they are in the minority) will hold their nerve and assemble an album of only the best material, even if, as in this case, it adds up to a mere 34 minutes.
The suits at the giant Hollywood label, with whom they had signed, wanted Eddie (Kiss, Santana, Led Zeppelin) Kramer to produce. Kramer listened to the demos, produced by the band's drummer, Eric
Valentine and reportedly offered "What do you want from me? This guy's doing a great job. Why don't you just let this kid produce it himself? You don't need me."
Valentine had cut his teeth producing local bands in his native California and was something of legend, spending upwards of 14 hours a day creating and fine tuning the sound he was looking for in any given situation.
He blew us all way with this short but oh so sweet album.
Beautifully remastered and now reissued on the new, enterprising Krescendo Records label it sounds as fresh, as invigorating, as exhilarating now as it did on its day of release.
All that said, it sunk without trace after its initial launch. Why? Simple - it was years ahead of its time. Decades even. Only smart people like you and me recognised it for what it was.
The combination of influences it took in its stride was breathtaking. Hard rock, richly textured, multi layered, peppered with rap metal moments and short bursts of movie soundtrack narratives. All woven around fabulously musical compositions and groundshaking rhythms, carefully coated with a sheen of operatic grandeur.
It was Queen,Van Halen,
Trevor Rabin all moved on from their seventies personas and melded together in one explosive, 34 minute rocket ride.
11 tracks and every one a winner, from the sensory overload that establishes the
T Ride template,
'Zombies From Hell' to the relatively minimalist '
You And Your Friend'. From the fleetfooted, hard punching
'Luxury Cruiser', a rock song with a blink-and-you-miss-it symphonic middle eight, to the most immediate, accessible track on the album
'Backdoor Romeo'.
'Hit Squad' and '
Bad Girls & Angels' aren't quite so obvious, stealing in when your guard is down and rearing their awesome melodic head just when you least expect it.
Elsewhere, the band's music and style is beyond comparison.
Unquestionably, even taking the discernible influences into account,
T Ride was a band with a unique musical vision.
Clearly, one that still resonates very loudly today.
Written by
Brian Friday, November 14, 2008
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