Before I kick off this final installment of “Under The Radar”, I wanted to point out something regarding my thought process with these bands that I didn’t state in the previous two posts:  I purposefully chose artists that had no more than three releases and also single out artists whose releases are generally hard to find.  Some of these have been rereleased over the years and some are now out of print.  It might be hard tracking some of these down but they are certainly well worth your money if the price is right!

Soooo… on we go!

In the years post-Whitesnake, John Sykes was snapped up by Geffen Records and put together a powerhouse trio in drum king Carmine Appice (ex-Rod Stewart, Vanilla Fudge, Ozzy, etc) and fretless bassmeister Tony Franklin (ex-The Firm).  The debut self titled disc was chock full of atmospheric goodies, led by intro single “Valley Of The Kings” and other strong cuts like “Riot”, “Blue Murder”, “Black Hearted Woman” and songs reminiscent of his Thin Lizzy years (check out “Billy” for its Lynott-esque lyric) and his time in Whitesnake (“Jelly Roll”).  Production is solid and features Bob Rock at the helm before he turned his talents to Metallica’s self titled disc a couple of years later.  Disc #2, Nothing But Trouble, has its own heavy moments but the songwriting isn’t quite as solid as their debut (also, both Appice and Franklin no longer appear) and the massive bottom end provided by Rock is missing as Sykes produced this effort.  If you like great guitarwork, heavy blues based songs, kick ass rhythm section, and fantastic vocals from Sykes definitely pick these up if you can find them.  Sykes retired the Blue Murder name in the mid-90s and is technically a solo act now.

Cry of Love was a really cool band that put out a couple of great records in the early 90’s, Brother and Diamonds and Debris.  Unfortunately, their style of 70s blues rock stuck out like a sore thumb with their debut disc coming at the tail end of the hair metal era and at the onset of grunge.  That said, both discs feature outstanding guitar work from Audley Freed who at times mixes Hendrix/Trower tonalities similar to someone like Marc Ford in the Black Crowes (ironically, Freed replaced Ford for a period with that same band).  Brother features the pipes of Kelly Holland, sounding a bit like a modern day Paul Rodgers in soulfulness and delivery crossed with a hint of Bubba Keith from “Nicole” era Point Blank.  Unfortunately Holland was fired from the band, who then recruited former Lynch Mob singer Robert Mason, a great singer himself with his own unique soulful\melodic delivery for second disc Diamonds and Debris.  Both discs are very, very good with tons of highlights that are hard to pick out.  If you dig Hendrix, Trower, Free, Bad Company, Black Crowes, Steve Ray Vaughan, this is for you.

In one of my first “Under The Radar” posts I wrote glowingly about Badlands’ debut disc, so if you read that (please check it out if you haven’t) you’ll get a lot about the strengths of the band.  Fortunately, discs #2 and #3 are equally strong in their own right-  the lineup remains the same but Eric Singer is out (on his way to Alice Cooper and KISS) and on the way in is new sticksman Jeff Martin.  Voodoo Highway adds even more depth, mixing up heavy rock cuts similar to the debut like “Soul Stealer”, “Heaven’s Train”, and “Silver Horses” with acoustic touches varying between the dusty slide blues of “Voodoo Highway” and smoothly strummed intro to “Show Me The Way”.  Throw in the swagger of “Three Day Funk” and “Whiskey Dust” into the mix and you’ve got an eclectic mix from all colors of the spectrum.  However…as the commercial says, “but that’s not all!”  “In A Dream” is an absolute gem with singer Ray Gillen taking us all to church, sending shivers down the spine with an absolute knockout of a performance (how this guy isn’t a legend I’ve got no idea).  Unfortunately band squabbles (partly due to the record company finagling) led to the demise of Badlands, which is a shame of such immense proportions considering Ray Gillen’s passing just a few years later.  Fortunately for us Badlands fans there was one posthumously released disc in Dusk, tunes culled from demos they were putting together for a third disc before being dropped from their Atlantic recording contract.  Outside from the truly outstanding songs, there are a couple of things that stand out about this disc:  1) most of it is cut live in the studio, all in one take; and 2) Ray Gillen is making up 50% of his lyrics on the spot (check out the Wiki entry on “Dusk” and read the Jeff Martin comments).  Run out and find these discs NOW and in the meantime go out to YouTube and do a “badlands live” search and soak up the goodness from Jake E Lee, Greg Chaisson, Ray Gillen, and Eric SInger/Jeff Martin.  You can thank me later.