Re: early Yngwie appreciation
Awesome! Man, I love WTEAW! I know a lot of people have an issue with it sounding so raw and almost live but I think that's what makes the album for me. Chock full of great songs.
Attack! has some really incredible songs but it's a bit of a falling off for Yngwie IMO. The good songs are really good. The rest really does feel like filler and there's only a few other Yng albums I can say has songs like that.
Unleash The Fury is just killer front to back. I got to see him on that tour as well. One of the best shows I've ever been to. HUGE tone.
Perpetual Flame just didn't click with me. I mean I liked the music but the barred creativity of Ripper was super apparent and I think the songs suffered lyrically and vocally because of it.
And then there's Relentless... Which actually impressed the hell out of me! The songs had a freshness about them that Yng hasn't displayed in a good while. New licks galore, a much better tone than PF (Thanks to SD?) and stronger songwriting. I guess the funny thing is that Ripper didn't even know about this album when it was released... Yet he was on it. Yng used extra vocal takes from scrapped PF sessions and mixed em into the new songs. Even though it was a shady move on Yng's part, it actually came out quite brilliantly! Oddly seems way more cohesive than PF ever did.
What ever he does next I hope he gets a new vocalist and WORKS with the guy versus bringing in a guy to sing prewritten lyrics. I would love to hear that. I would flip **** if he got back together with Boals or Mats Levén. Man... I can dream...
I felt the same way about Perpetual Flame and Relentless as you do-- the former being just a rehash of stuff for Yngwie (and some of the vocals just made me a little, almost embarassed to be caught listening to), but Relentless was WAAAY better. I agree, it sounded fresh, charged, etc.-- I think he had a bit of a reboot at some point that coincided w/ switching to Duncan. The lyrics etc. were still akin to most of his catalog (i.e. nothing super new) but the playing and riffs sounded energized, pissed off, I don't know how to phrase it, but GOOD.
I really feel like Ripper has been way under-utilized. He has him sounding like every other singer he's ever had (other than Joe Lynn Turner, which I thought was a match made in heaven for Yngwie). For Lord's sake, let Ripper rip! I was expecting he'd be singing like he did in Priest and he got too watered down in the mix and didn't sing the same way as he did in JP.
I'd like to see Yngwie do 2 things: 1) get someone else to write the lyrics. As great as Yngwie is, most of his lyrics are 1-dimensional and kinda played out/lame. 2) Get another producer to do the album and mix it-- Yngwie's too used to hearing himself. He needs to get a killer rock producer (Mutt Lange, Ted Templeman, Bob Rock) and make things sound huge and fresh.
In the meantime, he's an unbelievable player that is so incredibly fluid and entertaining to watch play and perform. I think he's gotten alot more accessible and friendly and less pompous (although he's one of the few w/ the skills to fully back it up!)
Overall, a fantastic guitar player that needs to hand the reins over in the lyric and production department. I love that guy!
That's what 3 hours night sleep will do to you.
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