357. Alcatrazz / Disturbing The Peace. 1985. 2/5

When Alcatrazz had formed back in 1983 there had been a super-group aura around their formation. Indeed, with the personnel on board in the band, the music they were trying to write, and the age in which they had come into, there was a fair amount of hype about just what was going to be produced. That debut album, “No Parole from Rock ‘n’ Roll” provided some of that, but the promotion of the album and its lead single “Island in the Sun” on MTV was not able to funnel in the numbers that the band and their record company were looking for. Then came the live album that was recorded in Japan, “Live Sentence” which showcased how the band sounded in that environment. In some ways it was a canny move, which all went to hell in a hand basket after the ongoing tension between lead vocalist Graham Bonnett and lead guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen, a tension that was born in the background but eventually spilled over into live performances. This culminated in a performance in Japan when Bonnet poked Malmsteen in the stomach with his microphone stand, and Malmsteen retaliated by punching him. This led to Malmsteen finally quitting the band and starting up his own solo career, one that eclipsed his former band through the rest of the decade.
Keyboardist Jimmy Waldo went about the job of replacing Malmsteen, and eventually was able to lure former Frank Zappa guitarist Steve Vai to join the band, despite resistance from Bonnet. Looking back now, at the band’s first two lead guitarists and the careers they have since then, it is hard to imagine that Alcatrazz did not have a bigger following and profile than they did. At the same time their record company was shit down dur to the embezzlement of millions of dollars, and so they instead signed with Capitol Records. From here the band began to work on new material, before then headlining another tour of Japan which introduced Vai to the fans and allowed them to play new material from the upcoming album. All of this was forebearer to the release of their sophomore album, which saw the light of day in late February of 1985, titled “Disturbing the Peace”.

It’s fair to say that most people who first listened to Alcatrazz would have done so for the same reasons that I did initially – because of Graham Bonnett and Yngwie Malmsteen. The departure of Yngwie would have been a difficult hole to fill for the band given his profile and ego. But the recruitment of Steve Vai certainly covered that and made discovering the second album another adventure worth looking forward to. The songwriting for the album was for the majority share done by the duo of Bonnett and Vai. There are a couple of songs early on that utilise the skills of other band members, but for the most part it is the lead singer and the lead guitarist leading the way.
The opening track also was released as the only single from the album, “God Blessed Video”. It showcases what the best songs from the debut album detailed, Graham Bonnet’s outstanding vocals often doubled to create a further impact, a solid rhythm from Gary Shea on bass and Jan Uvena on drums, and the mix of Vai’s guitar with Waldo’s keys and synths. Vai offers his first super solo on this track, which as you would expect has all of his usual characteristics and does replace the outlandish antics of Malmsteen’s guitar with aplomb. It’s a catchy song that sounds like it is from the exact era it is set in. Following on from this is “Mercy”, a song where all of the band members get a writing credit. It dials back the tempo of the first track and concentrates on vocals being mixed over the top of each other to create a wall of noise that Bonnet does enjoy getting out of his voice. Sometimes it is overdone and perhaps this is one of those occasions. It is an interesting structure, that doesn’t quite stand up alongside the opening track.
After the initial musical passage into the start of the next song, “Will You Be Home Tonight”, I still always believe that the opening lines of the song are sung by a different singer, because it sounds nothing like Bonnett. That soon changes, but that opening could have been any other singer. It is an average song that does its job of padding out the album. “Wire and Wood” ramps things back up again, and we have the band in its best element, that 80’s hard rock sound with keys and synths through the verse and chorus of the song, Bonnet in full cry vocally, and then Vai’s guitar punctuating the song at interludes and adding its texture throughout before it takes over in the solo section. Is there any chance someone can go back in time and let the band know that THIS is what the fans want to hear when it comes to your music! This song is the perfect combination of all of their talents.
But then, having said that, “Desert Diamond” descends back into the slow tempo with drudgingly thumped drum beats and heads for a different atmosphere altogether. And while this is fine to listen to as a part of the album, it does present itself at the wrong location. The whole song is saved by the interruption of Vai’s amazing lead solo break that brightens the whole process up and gives it the gravitas that it was probably striving for, but did not have until he arrived.
The second side of the album opens with “Stripper”, a song in the same style as the opening track and “Wire and Wood”. Upbeat, fast tempo, Bonnet charging, Vai tossing licks and riffs through the speakers. Lyrically it isn’t a Booker Prize winner, but it is fun and enjoyable to bounce along with. “Painted Lover” follows the path of the album by harking back into mid-tempo speed again, a comfortable hard rock song with no surprises and standing with the standard formation of track that has come before it. “Lighter Shade of Green” is a 45 second spurt of instrumental extravagance for Vai before bursting into “Sons and Lovers”, a fairly stock standard soft rock ballad, one that is searching for an audience that is probably not going to be attracted to this band. “Skyfire”, like “Will You Be Home Tonight”, has a Bonnet vocal through the song that is very unlike what he usually offers. It isn’t unpleasant but it is nothing like his usual style. Does that throw you off when you listen to the song? Well, it does for me. Or perhaps it is just that the song itself isn’t particularly memorable APART from that changed vocal melody? Now there’s a thought! The album then concludes with “Breaking the Heart of the City”

Hands up if you have ever listened to Alcatrazz the band! My guess is that there are extraordinarily few of you who have. To be fair, their lack of time on music charts anywhere let alone the US is the best proof of that. I can still remember when their only couple of music videos, two off their debut album and “God Blessed Video” off this album, came on to the Australian ABC late night music program Rage, and the odd occasion on MTV’s Headbangers Ball, and thinking ‘oh yeah this is okay... Bonnett, Malmsteen, Vai... it must be all right!” So much so that I sought out the first two albums to listen to. That didn’t come until 1991 on my first trip to Bali when I bought a hundred cassette albums for about $13. And thus, I listened to them. And what I found was probably not anything like what I expected, even having seen those videos of their early singles.
When the band released “Disturbing the Peace” along with the single "God Blessed Video", it was barely played on radio or MTV alike. The album peaked at No. 145 in the US and nowhere else, not even Japan. They had to cut a tour short due to financial problems, and not long after Steve Vai left to join David Lee Roth's solo band - on good terms, as it was an offer Vai could not refuse.
I think “Disturbing the Peace” starts off promisingly enough, but the band has run out of ideas early into the second half of the album, and the style of songs begins to alienate any possible fan base that could really get around this. And as always it is a shame because there is no doubt that the band is full of excellent musicians who are very good at their craft.
To me Alcatrazz never really thought about what market they were trying to access or populate. And that isn’t something you probably think about a lot as a band, you just want to create music that YOU like and then hope to find an audience. But Alcatrazz never really found that audience. I found the band and listened to their albums on the back of knowing their lead vocalist from other bands I love, and their first two guitarists for the same reason. If you weren’t coming to the band for that..., what WERE you coming in for?! So surely really focusing on the background of those guys -Bonnet with Rainbow and MSG, and Yngwie and Vai as guitar gods – would have been the best option this band had going for it. And in places you can hear it on this album. Vai has some terrific solo spots in songs and comes up with some great riffs in others. Bonnet’s vocals for the most part settle into the style he thinks works, whereas something more like he had in the two bands I mentioned would probably have worked better.
My cassettes disappeared a long time ago, which is a shame because there were a lot of great albums in there that I know I owned and have now forgotten about. I have an mp3 version of this album that I did indulge in through the first decade of this century, but the past week has probably been the first time in 15 years that I have sat down and listened to this album again. And as it has been one of several albums I am currently listening to, it may not surprise you too much to know that even as I was doing my due diligence for this podcast episode, the last few times I have had this album on I have been waiting for it to end so I could listen to something else from very early on in the playing.
Take what you will from this review and episode, and from the album itself. As a piece of The Creation Of Me puzzle, it is but a small insignificant entry. But it is an album all the same that I have experienced in my life, and one that certainly doesn’t rank in either the all time greats for me, nor the all time stinkers. It’s ok. It is listenable. But the choice to listen to it now has only come from the outcome of this podcast. I am grateful for it, but happy to now move to the next episode thank you!