1291. Gogmagog / I Will Be There. 1985. 1/5

One of the most unusual and seemingly unlikely supergroups ever put together by anyone on the history of music is surely the tale of Gogmagog, the so-called brainchild of producer Jonathan King. King had had his own charting single back in 1965, and had been involved in producing bands such as Genesis, 10cc and the Bay City Rollers through the 1960’s and 1970’s. His list of credits in music is extensive, which eventually brought about this venture. But as will be shown, just what the actual end game was for this project is still a mystery.
According to several sources, originally King attempted to put together a supergroup revolving around then Whitesnake lead vocalist David Coverdale, bassist John Entwistle of The Who, and drummer Cozy Powell, all of whom were apparently keen on the project. It was initially imagined for a three track EP to be recorded and released. The lead song was set to be “I Will Be There”, a song composed by Russ Ballard and originally released by him on his solo album titled “Into the Fire” in 1981. Ballard had had a number of hit songs that he had written that were performed by other bands, including “Since You Been Gone” and “I Surrender” by Rainbow, “I Know There’s Something Going On” by ABBA member Frida, “So You Win Again” by Hot Chocolate, “You Can Do Magic” by America, and “New York Groove” and “God Gave Rock and Roll to You” which were covered by Ace Frehley and Kiss respectively. Cozy Powell said he thought that the Ballard song was "the best he's ever written". The other two tracks were composed by King himself, with the imaginative titles of "Living in a Fucking Time Warp" and "It's Illegal, It's Immoral, It's Unhealthy, But It's Fun", the second of which seems highly dubious considering that King was convicted of juvenile sexual abuse 15 years after this project for offences that occurred around this time.
Entwistle in particular was excited as the concept was apparently originally his idea. However, this early line-up wasn't working out, certainly according to later interviews with former Iron Maiden vocalist Paul Di'Anno, and all three soon bowed out. That meant that a new line up for the proposed supergroup had to occur, and that was where Di’Anno came in.
Whatever this supergroup was meant to be, after the departure of the original three participants it looked as though the idea was to find members who were in a similar genre of music to those that had left the building. And as it turned out, their time of recruiting members could not have come at a better time. Paul Di’Anno as vocalist had of course been moved on from Iron Maiden, and then the previous year had recorded his debut eponymous solo album, one where he had changed style completely and also refused to play Iron Maiden songs in his set list on tour. That lineup had now dissolved, and when this opportunity had come about it feels as though it would have been one he couldn’t refuse. In interviews since he has had very little to say about it, and what little that he did say was not complimentary. He was completely dismissive of both the group and producer, referring to the failed project as "...nothing. That was some fucking idiot who got us doing that shit." He was also critical of the fact that none of the band members were able to contribute to writing any of the songs, something that if this HAD gotten off the ground would have been interesting to see if that would have changed.

The rest of the band came together from a similar fate and set of circumstances. Drummer Clive Burr had also just recently felt the wrath of the Maiden machine, and while he had had brief stints with both Trust and Alcatrazz, he was at a loose end before this came along. Unlike his former Maiden partner, Burr was more bullish about the project, saying in a later interview that "the others may not admit it, but this is some of the best stuff any of us has done". Pete Willis had also felt the sting of rejection from Def Leppard, and came on board with all sorts of credits behind him to match his two Iron Maiden contemporaries. Joining him on guitar was Jannick Gers who had been a part of Ian Gillan’s band, and of course had a bright future ahead of him a little way down the road, and on bass guitar was Neil Murray, most recently from Whitesnake but with many credits under his belt. As a who’s who of the recently spurned from very prominent hard rock and heavy metal bands, it would be hard to beat.
As to the songs themselves, even for the time that this was released, it is very formulaic. The producer obviously has a reasonable CV behind him, and Ballad’s propensity for writing songs that made charts and hit the right places musically is unquestioned. But there is certainly nothing here that drags you in has you excited to hear what has been laid down. “I Will Be There” is not standing up against ANY of the songs being released in any hard rock or metal environment at the time and certainly isn’t fitting in with the pop scene at the time either. None of the players in this band does anything here that makes you think “Aaahhh yes, that’s what I remember from so-and-so!”. No guitar solo’s, no dynamic bass lines, no dramatic drum fills. Everything is as basic as it can get. Di’Anno sticks out the front of the mix, but while he is serviceable there’s nothing that is in anyway inspirational. Other bands have made more of Russ Ballard’s songs than this group does here. Perhaps that’s just because the wrong song was picked, or the band was held rigidly to what the producer wanted them to do. As to the other two songs composed by the producer... well, he obviously thought they were top notch tracks that would act as a complement to the main track. But we are stuck in the same situation. There is nothing here for the performers to really get their teeth into and offer their undoubted skills to give the tracks the heart starter they need. Lyrically, musically, they are just dead in the water. The constant over repeating of the song title in the second song is just painfully predictable. And about the only thing that is in any way interesting about the final track is the lyrics that say “Don't put that weed in your mouth, boy, Take that sweet young thing off your lap, If you survive this antisocial behaviour, You're going to have to face a long-term prison rap”. It seems that the producer and writer was self-predicting his own fate in the future with this track!
I only ever tracked down this EP for the interest in the performers. The fact that I hadn’t heard about it at the time it was released more or less led me to believe that it was not something that I needed to hear, but when you have the names of Di’Anno, Gers, Willis, Murray and Burr involved in a band together, it is pretty hard to ignore. So I tracked it down, and was about as underwhelmed as I expected I was going to be. There just wasn’t any chance this was going to be an undiscovered gem, even with Russ Ballard also being involved. Is it worth the time and effort to listen to it? It is like everything in music. Listening once won’t harm anyone. And no matter who you are it seems unlikely you will search it out too often after that. I haven’t. I did burn it to CD when I found it, and have it sitting on my shelves as a result, but if not for this podcast episode it is extremely unlikely it would ever have been utilised. Again. Which, as it turns out, it now the truth of the matter going forward.
Being little more than a contrivance concocted by producer Jonathan King, the band quickly fell apart once he lost interest in his own creation. The five members of the group parted to move on to other projects, some with far greater success than others. And this sunk back into the mists of time, only ever to be revived by some tinpot podcaster in 2025 for the sake of filling some airtime. Some completionists are just kidding themselves, aren’t they?

1290. Black Label Society / Stronger Than Death. 2000. 3.5/5

The continued inconsistency of Ozzy Osbourne and his recording and touring routine was an obvious basis for the formation of what became the band Black Label Society. Ozzy had decided he was going to retire from touring after the “No More Tears” album, which left guitarist Zakk Wylde as a free agent as such. Of course, this retirement was short lived, and in 1995 Ozzy and Zakk recorded the “Ozzmosis” album, though only after writing sessions with Steve Vai had broken down. Then things become a little bit murky. Apparently at the time Zakk was considering an offer to join Guns ‘N Roses, and even though he had been a part of the Osbourne camp since 1988, they decided to replace him for the tour to promote the album rather than wait for him to give an answer one way or the other. Not the first, nor the last, musician, to discover the rough side of the Osbourne tongue.
Eventually, Zakk decided to write and record his own album, under the band name Black Label Society, even though he wrote all of the songs and played all of the instruments except for drums, on which Phil Ondich made his contribution. The album, “Sonic Brew” received good reviews, and as such Zakk moved to create a follow up. Once again for this album, all of the songs were composed by Wylde, as well as him contributing all of the vocals, guitars and piano. Ondich once again provided the drums. There is also a cameo of some heavy duty growing on the title track from Mike Piazza, whose contribution proved as a singer he is a very good baseball catcher. As with the previous album it was released in Japan first in early March, with a bonus track to appease the usual record company rumblings. The US and international version of the album then came six weeks later in mid-April of 2000, under the title of “Stronger Than Death”.

“All For You” makes a statement from the opening of the album. As good an album as his first effort had been, “All for You” hits new tones from the outset. Zakk has all sorts of stuff going on with his guitars, all quintessential Zakk Wylde, all writhing their way through the entire length of the track. Everything about it is sludgy and feels like you are trying to work your way through the mud, but it is glorious in its cacophony and wall of sound coming out of the speakers at you. Zakk’s vocals perfectly offset what he is laying down musically, and the resulting feeling of being buried in a sweaty cramped nightclub having the time of your life is inescapable. Then jump on board for “Phony Smiles & Fake Hellos” where Zakk unleashes lyrically more than musically on something that has obviously really pissed him off. Because here he just unloads with a withering attack on those he sees around him with the titled phoney smiles and fake hellos. Lyrics such as “You're just a fabricated lie, that doesn't exist, Dropping names where ever you go” and “Just a no talent nothing with a ten ton ego, Until your 15 minutes are through” and “Just a powertripping, mindtraping, backstabbing, junkie, Thinking your hype is true” are just a taste of the vitriol Zakk sprays here, and I’m here for every minute of it. A great song.
“13 Years of Grief” isn’t letting up on the anger being sprouted on this album. I don’t know if this was written about someone Zakk knew or about something he saw on the news or was just a conglomerate of things, but he certainly isn’t impressed with the 13-year-old protagonist here who is going to jail for six months. It's a great ugly thumping rhythm riff that accompanies Zakk’s hardcore vocals, and a solo that completes the tale. Tell us what you really think Zakk!!
“Rust” reverts to the slower sadder rose-coloured overtones of what can be described as a ballad, but a smoky sludgy molasses slow one at that. So, not your typical song of this genre, all dripping with Zakk’s southern rock styled acoustic guitar into the guitar solo that does more than enough to indicate this is what this song is without destroying it with something that is a cut and paste mirror image of the genre. Lyrically Zakk holds things together by not going the full ballad route, with lyrics such as “Living, fighting, obsessing, Just as long as I can share it all with you, Yesterday, today, tomorrow, come rain, come shine, Hell and back, the beginning, in-between, till the end of time”. These kinds of songs did become a bit of an overkill on later albums for Zakk and Black Label Society, and “Rust” does go on longer than it needs to, but here, as the exception rather than the rule, it plays out well within the mix of the album. The difference of opinion follows in “Superterrorizer”, a song stretched to beyond five and a half minutes with a minimum of vocals and an expansion of riffage to offset the delay. Zakk’s solo on this song is fantastic, minted by the changing speed and grind of the rhythm riff. This then bleeds into “Counterfeit God”, which is very much in the straight up-and-down grinding song that is reminiscent of much of the metal from the second half of the 1990’s decade. Structure, simple. Guitar rhythm riff, simple. Solo guitar spot, generic. Vocals, just average. It feels like a song with these lyrics that should have had more substance to the music itself, but does not. It is serviceable but is missing some of the grunt from the earlier tracks. So too with “Ain’t Life Grand”, whose lyrics again seem to demand music and vocals that truly bear down on the topic at hand and have some real menace about them. Instead, both tracks come away as feeling incomplete. The vocal qualities of the opening tracks are not transferred here, where one feels that if these songs sounded more like those that they would be a far better fit to this album.
“Just Killing Time” is the second ballad track on the album, this one the piano ballad that Zakk would become more prolific with as the band moved onwards. He certainly puts his own mark on the concept, the piano acting as the basis of the track and the wailing guitar solo extremely prominent through the back half of the song. Zakk does these well, don’t get me wrong, and as a part of this album I am happy to listen to it when I have the album on. Would I CHOOSE to listen to it in other circumstances? Nah.
The title track “Stronger Than Death” pulls itself back into the best style of Black Label Society songs, with Zakk’s grungy sludgy rhythm guitar riff dominating and his squealing lead guitar travelling over the top of this, and Zakk’s vocals back in the lower growling tone that he does so well. The album concludes with the eight minute monster, “Love Reign Down”, something that seems once again a little out of place and perhaps not a necessity. 8 minute epics are not an unusual way to close out an album, and when they pop they really lift the album as a whole. This isn’t a terrible song, but it does drag out when it could have been cut off shorter which to me would have made the end of the album more palatable. But hey, I’m not a songwriter, so what would I know?!

Zakk Wylde had been a favourite as a guitar player ever since he first emerged with Ozzy Osbourne on the album “No Rest for the Wicked”. His style and squeal had made him a great asset and offsider to Ozzy on those albums and tours he participated in. In 2002 I came across his solo album “Book of Shadows”, something that was completely different from what I expected, but still mostly enjoyable. Then I ran across my first experience with Black Label Society, “1919 Eternal” and I thought “what the bloody hell is this?!” It was again different from what I expected, but it was something that still grabbed my attention. From there it was a short trip back to also discover that there were two earlier albums in the band’s catalogue, and so I had to experience those as well.
My first impressions at that time of “Stronger Than Death” was that I enjoyed about half of the album, could quite happily tolerate the other half of the album, but what I probably wanted at that time was more speed, more fire and less sludge. If I could go back now and talk to my 20-odd year younger self I would have said ‘if that’s what you are looking for, you are in the wrong shop’. I was also looking for something that was more like “1919 Eternal” and this, while similar, is not the same. Over time, and more listening to the album, I just let the album be what it was and enjoyed it for the same reason. Getting my own CD copy of the album and being able to hear it in better clarity through my own stereo, made the experience far more enjoyable.
Flash forward to the past week, and the CD has been out again in the Metal Cavern and getting its mandatory listens for this podcast episode. Nothing much has changed for me. There are lots of great songs here, Zakk’s biting lyrics and uniquely sung vocals, and typically wonderful guitar riffs. For the most part the bass is buried under the cacophony of other guitars being played, but that isn’t really too noticeable when listening to the album. The two ballads here are fine but not my favourite parts of the album. At least here there are just the two tracks styled in this fashion. Down the track they did become more prevalent. It is probably the reason why most fans of the band still rate this album as one of if not the best by Zakk and the band, because here at least there is that basis of the metal sound the fans are looking for. For me, of the 11 studio albums the band has released, I would rank it as my second favourite. The other that ranks above it has probably been given away in this closing monologue.
Zakk did find a way back to Ozzy’s band in bits and pieces over the next few years, but what helped set up Black Label Society’s NEXT album was a bunch of songs Zakk actually wrote for Ozzy... but that’s a tale for another episode...

1289. Saxon / Wheels of Steel. 1980. 4/5

Saxon’s so-called ‘overnight success story’ had actually been a process of almost a decade by the time they came to record their sophomore album. The band had originally formed in late 1975, lining up with another band that would become a contemporary of theirs, Iron Maiden. Originally called Son of a Bitch, they had come together through the dissolution of two other bands, S.O.B and Coast. To form a new band, S.O.B’s three remaining members Graham Oliver on guitar, Steve "Dobby" Dawson on bass, and John Walker on drums, joined up with Coast’s members singer and bass player Peter "Biff" Byford, and guitarist Paul Quinn. Byford relinquished the bass guitar and took on the vocalist role solely. Son of a Bitch began moving to a heavier sound and spent the next three years gigging extensively. John Walker eventually moved on and was replaced by Pete Gill. In the process of trying to organise a record deal, the band changed their name to Saxon in order to be less abrasive for record sales and radio airplay, and on the back of supporting established bands such as Motorhead and the Ian Gillan Band, Saxon released their self-titled debut album in May 1979.
The album gave the band music to promote on the road, but there was a nagging doubt about the quality and direction the band was heading. Reviews at the time said that the album was mixed, with differing styles in the songs that gave the impression that the band wasn’t sure of its own musical direction, and that the production of the album was also of a lesser quality than would have been desired. It was released at a time that the music landscape of the UK was changing, with the punk revolution and disco themes quietening after making a major splash for a short period of time. In their wake came new wave and also the slow surge of heavy metal, with bands in leather and denim beginning to find their way into the public spectrum. And for a band like Saxon, who had changed their name to avoid missing out on airplay but had also seen an opportunity to come out hard on their debut album slip away, the remainder of 1979 touring and gigging would have been eye opening for what was growing around them. They would have seen the young bands who were rising in popularity, who were p[cking out the clubs throughout the UK, and the music they were producing. And with this all around them, as the band that had the experience of the past ten years that they had spent getting themselves to this position, and with their contract safe in their hands, they entered the studios in February of 1980 with a mission statement in hand. And that was to produce an album that would not only compete with the material that was coming from these new brash young bands, but to be a leader amongst them. The end result was “Wheels of Steel”.

Whatever demographic the band was aiming for with this album, it pretty much nailed all of them with the opening song to the album “Motorcycle Man”. Remnants of the punk movement? Check. Denim clad rising of heavy metal headbangers? Check. Leather clad motorcyclists? Damn check! It is the perfect opening track for the era, the twin guitar vocal screaming hard core rhythm screams out of the speakers, the solid rhythm buffed up by Biff Byford’s opening vocals. This is bright and breezy, a song that incorporates the best of everything that was being showcased by the rise of the NWOBHM bands of the age. It has the metal guitar and drums that brings out the hand bang, and the added speed that brings the fist pump out as well. A terrific opening to the band’s sophomore album. “Stand Up and Be Counted” tracks in the same vein, and great opening riff to the song carries the momentum from the opening song forward. The twin guitars of Oliver and Quinn are excellent here, playing off the solid rhythmic core of Dawson and Gill while Byford sings anthemically over the top. Another solid track to kick off the album. Then comes the more melodic features of “747 (Strangers on the Night)”, a song that is still regarded by hardcore fans as one of the band’s best achievements. The morphing of the guitars into a melodic rhythm are accentuated by Byford’s excellent vocals throughout. This song shows how much the band had grown in the 12 months since their debut album. Though this differs in style from the opening two tracks, they are still paired together by the tougher riff leading out of the bridge into the melody, and then into the guitar solo section, which leaves no doubt as to the style of music the band is creating here. While the song has its change of mood it doesn’t make a left turn when it comes to style and genre. This is followed by the title track “Wheels of Steel” which mixes double entendres with a simple love of cars song, one designed for listening to while cruising in the car on the highway, fist pumping out of the window. Again, here Saxon has found their marketplace and are driving for it with all pistons pumping... slight pun intended. It closes out what is a superb first half of the album.
Let’s keep heading out down the highway (Judas Priest stylings on standby) with the opening song from side two of the album, “Freeway Mad”. And – if I haven’t mentioned it before – these lyrics are not going to win any awards at any songwriting festival that may have existed in the past or present. This isn’t Shakespeare and it isn’t Stephen King. However, they are fun enough, and the music more than makes up for them. Saxon pour fuel on the fire here again, especially in the solos that highlight and light up the track to its utmost. And who doesn’t like sirens added to a track to make it sound like you are being chased by the law... I mean, it only happens on just about every album released in 1980 on one song... don't believe me? Go back and check out Maiden and Priest and their releases from this year. “Freeway Mad” is a good song, and “See the Light Shining” continues on in the same manner, utilising the same template as has come before it and cannonballing through the second half of the album. I mean, the lyrics are... not nonsensical, but they really aren’t trying too hard to come up with a real story either. The lines “show me the way” and “I can see a light shining, shining down on me” take up three quarters of the song. Repeated almost to ad nauseum. Biff isn’t changing gear of pitch too often either. OK, well while we are at it, let’s just rinse and repeat for “Street Fighting Gang”. Saxon have found their niche and their groove, so there doesn’t seem to be any reason to change it, certainly not in the year and environment they find themselves in musically. The song is as on the same ground as the other tracks here but on a lesser scale, perhaps just through sheer tiredness of bashing that template for another song choice. “Suzie Hold On” acts as the ballad of the album, though really only lyrically not musically. Perhaps hard rock ballad is the best way to describe it, with Biff crooning about wishing her was rich to take away the pain of the protagonist woman he is singing about. Yet musically it holds its form with solid riffing. The album concludes with “Machine Gun”, which fires up the speed again. It also brings forth the war theme, giving the album a well rounded review topically. Jump on that rhythm riff to start the song and drive it all the way to the end, broken up only by the guitar solo stretch in the middle of the track. Hey! It’s not the worst closing track of all time. Indeed, it does the job as has been prescribed by the songs that come before it. It offers that same style and structure that the band nails down from start to finish, and if you are a band beginning to push your way into plain sight, if you have something that works, you hold onto it for dear life.

Saxon is a band that I didn’t really listen to until I reached the early 2000’s, when I reached a point at which I decided to go back and try and find music from all of the NWOBHM bands that I had missed on my way through my discovery of the heavy metal genre. As per usual this was not a deliberate thing, and I of course KNEW of the band themselves, but as none of my friends had any Saxon in their collection either, it just wasn’t something I gravitated towards. Eventually I found an opportunity and a desire to go back and find these bands and their albums, and that was when I first began to listen to Saxon the band. And while I got the first four albums and live album all in one hit, I still worked my way through each of them in a methodical way. So, I wasn’t overly enamoured by the first album, this one was different from the start.
Why? Because it SOUNDED like an album from 1980, and that was pretty much what I was looking for. I wanted to seek out other albums of that time in music history from the UK in particular, that found their mark in the rising force of what was going on. I went in with an open mind, and though I didn’t find that on the self-titled album, this one hit the mark. That opening side of the album is electrifying from an historical point of view. It channels everything that was best about the era of the music and puts it down on vinyl. It is a leap forward from their first album, with songs and music that makes you sit up and take notice. Those four tracks - “Motorcycle Man” (which I had first heard on Lars Ulrich's ‘79 Revisited best of collection of the NWOBHM era), “Stand Up and Be Counted”, “747 (Strangers in the Night)” and “Wheels of Steel” is a terrific opening half of an album, a standard that the second side doesn’t quite match but still has very good moments on it. Even today, it still holds up pretty well.
And that is what I have gotten from the album over the past couple of days, having put it back on a listen for the first time in a few years. It immediately brings energy to the fore, a tempo that catches the ear and makes you think “oh yeah, that’s right. Saxon!” My first listen was at work, and from the first ten seconds I had already been dragged in. Even though I didn’t hear this album until the new century, it immediately takes me back to what that scene must have been like in the UK in 1980 where so many bands were either about to make their mark or were in the process of reaching that point of their career. And for Saxon, this is their first true mark. It’s hard to argue against that. This album went to #5 in the UK album charts, a remarkable achievement given what was happening around them at that time.
Last year as I record this, Saxon released their excellent and underrated latest album “Hell, Fire and Damnation”. It was one I listened to at the time and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Listening to this album again over the last couple of days, I have had the same kind of reaction. It’s a little surprising because I know the album and know I have enjoyed it in the past, but it was not one that I thought I would enjoy as much as I have on this reflection. Music is a funny and wonderful thing at times. In the case of “Wheels of Steel”, it is a pleasant one as well.

1288. Vixen / Rev It Up. 1990. 4/5

The late 1980’s was a period in music that was just made for a band like Vixen. Hair metal, glam metal, hard rock, whatever you want to call it, this was a style of music that lent itself to being interpreted by an all girl band who looked the part but could also play music. And that is what Vixen was during that period. Indeed, it is hard to believe that lead guitarist and band founder Jan Kuehnemund was 35 years old when the debut album was released, and that she had been in bands for almost 20 years by the time it was released. The band Vixen was first formed in 1980, and went through a rotational doorway of band member changes through the years. By 1987, the band had settled on the four piece that would take their music forward – Kuehnemund on lead guitar, Janet Gardner on rhythm guitar and lead vocals, Share Pederson on bass and Roxy Petrucci on drums. All three of the other girls were almost a decade younger than the vastly more experienced band leader. Thus in 1988, with glam metal at the height of its popularity, Vixen was signed by EMI and recorded their debut album. Coming on board to champion their career, among others, was Richard Marx, who had already had success as a songwriter and whose own singing career was about to take off. Not only did he co-produce the album, but he co-wrote the lead off track and first single from the album “Edge of a Broken Heart”.
Vixen spent the next year touring the world, supporting acts such as Ozzy Osbourne, Scorpions, and Bon Jovi, as well as headlining their own shows. The videos of the singles were on constant rotation on MTV and other music video programs. Their exposure to their primetime audience was significant. All that was required now was to write and record a follow up album that could take full advantage of the place they had arrived at. Whereas the first album had had several producers and guest writers to craft the perfect album to showcase the band, meticulously planned to take advantage of every asset the band had, this time around there was one producer, Randy Nicklaus, and the girls themselves had a much more hands on approach with the writing of the songs. The result was their sophomore album “Rev It Up”, one that could be seen to be the make or break album of the band’s career.

“Rev It Up” operates in the main on two separate writing partnerships – not solely, but in the main the two partnerships orbit the spectrum and are the ones that create the tides that flow through the album. The two songs that buck this trend are the two power ballads, both of which have different writers from the core group. “It Wouldn’t Be Love” is written by Dianne Warren, best known for those other dreadful power ballad tracks “If I Could Turn Back Time” by Cher and “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith. This song is either one of her throwaway songs that was offered to the band on the back of her reputation, or the band fails to find the kind of energy needed to make this a memorable addition to the album. Coming in as the penultimate track it is the most disappointing offering on this album. It would be far better without it. The other is “Love is a Killer” which was released as the second single from the album. This is written by drummer Roxy Petrucci and Harry Paress. This is a truer power ballad and offers a great insight into Roxy’s writing capabilities. Unlike “It Wouldn’t Be Love”, you can hear the passion exuding from this song, mostly from Janet Gardner’s amazing vocal performance which gives it the gravitas to lift it from an ordinary power ballad into something that at least offers something to hold onto. Jan Kuehnemund’s atypical power solo fits the bill nicely.
One of the two main songwriting partnerships is between Janet Gardner and bass guitarist Share Pedersen, and they contribute five tracks to the album. The opening title track is the first of those, on which Ron Keel also contributes to the writing along with Steve Diamond. It has a solid opening guitar riff, an inbuilt crowd participation bridge and chorus, and nice solo spot from Kuehnemund through the middle section. “Not as Minute Too Soon” is a stock standard hard rock track from the point of view of the girl who is trying to stop making bad decisions in love but of course the hero of the story is making himself appear, and not a minute too soon. Nothing extraordinary here, but one of the solid core of songs an album needs to be a good album. “Hard 16” follows the excellent “Streets in Paradise” and continues with the great energy that track emits. Sure, the lyrics are a familiar story, of the teenage girl leaving home to escape her parents and find a new life, but the song does it justice. The vocals, especially the rise through the last minute of the song from Gardner and Pedersen gives it a deserved great finish. More of the same lyrically follows in “Only a Heartbeat Away”. There aren’t any barriers being broken with the lyrics or musically for that matter, but it is being done n a fun way. Their final contribution is the closing track “Wrecking Ball”, which picks up the pieces of the ballad “It Wouldn’t Be Love” and gives the album the finish that it deserves, a party song that leaves the boy and girl storylines behind and just concentrates on having a great time.
The other writing partnership comes from band leader and lead guitarist Jan Kuehnemund, who has her fingers in the other four songs of the album. The first two are co-written with Jack Conrad and Steve Plunkett, better known for the band Autograph. Both of these songs are the best this album has to offer. The first is the first single from the album, “How Much Love”, a cracking hard rock song made for the times, showcasing all four band members in their best light, with great drumming from Petrucci, perfect rhythm in Gardner’s guitar and Pedersen’s bass and the lead from Kuehnemund herself, not to mention terrific vocals from Janet again with support from her bandmates. The second is “Streets in Paradise”, a rollicking track that picks up the pace of the album and makes all the necessary correction to launch the album once again. You can hear the contributions of Plunkett in both of these songs, but it is the four girls who make these tracks as good as they are. “How Much Love” is a karaoke bar track, “Streets in Paradise” is an arm out the window while driving the car song. "Bad Reputation” is co-written with Janet Gardner and is typical of the tracks they did together on the debut album, bouncy and punchy and with the right amount of attitude to keep the song fun. And finally, “Fallen Hero” is co-written with Petrucci and is driven by her drum beat and Janet’s vocals in a party anthem style that helps flavour this album as the fun time it is to listen to.

I’m sure I must have seen the music videos that proliferated the airwaves from Vixen’s debut album, but I don’t recall them out of hand. At the same time as Lita Ford’s breakthrough self-titled album was creating waves for its style of candy flavoured hard rock and hair metal, Vixen had done the same with their Richard Marx composed “Edge of a Broken Heart”. For me though, I didn’t really discover the band until my fateful first journey to Bali in mid-1991, where I purchased a hundred cassettes for practically nothing of bands I had never thought to check out because the price was too high back home. Here though, I loaded up and brought home a plethora of albums to listen to. And two of those albums were “Vixen” and “Rev It Up”. And when I got around to picking up this album, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I couldn’t even tell you what it was that I enjoyed about it. In the long run, it was just the whole package of the catchy songs and great vocals that were a counterpoint to the much heavier stuff I was listening to at that time that perhaps made the difference. I mean, the music world was changing, and my own listening had narrowed significantly to those heavy metal and thrash metal bands that I loved more than anything else. So finding this album – and quite a few others, which I will get to down the line of this podcast – was actually a circuit breaker, something that gave me music that I could go to on occasions when I didn’t need to listen to those other albums for the thousandth time.
And I won’t lie to you, Vixen have been a guilty pleasure band of mine for those 30-odd years that have passed since that Bali trip. And probably this album in particular. OK, you can toss out “It Wouldn’t Be Love”, it is below the standards of this band and should have been left off the album entirely. But the absolute high calibre of “How Much Love” and “Streets in Paradise”, along with “Rev It Up”, “Love is a Killer”, “Hard 16”, “Bad Reputation” and “Wrecking Ball”, still make this a great listen for me every time I choose to take it out of the CD racks.
When I again brought this out for this episode, I wasn’t sure just how I was going to feel about it, or review it. C’mon, there would be very few people out there who are going to openly admit that they are a huge fan of Vixen’s music. But I am one of those people. And every time I have listened to this album over the past few days, I have been singing along (sometimes far too loud) and air drumming on my work desk. For me, it still hits the right places. If I’m down, it absolutely brings me back into equilibrium. And I know that sometimes I only want half of the tracks here, so I will use the skip button. But when I put it on just because I want an album to listen to, there is no need. Not even for “It Wouldn’t Be Love” ... though that would still be preferable.
Vixen spent the year following the release of this album touring, including headlining their own shows and supporting acts such as KISS and Deep Purple. Unfortunately for them, the music world was in upheaval, and their style of music was facing an eradication on a global scale. While both albums had charted in the US and the UK, the success was not great enough for their record label who was starting to chase the ambulances heading directly for Seattle and the grunge movement, and Vixen were soon dropped and forced to disband. It was not to be the end of their story, but their short rise with their original grouping had come to an end. One might just ask... how much love is it gonna take...