Tag: giuffria

This the band’s second album, released in ’86. By the time they got around to recording this album, original guitarist Craig Goldy had jumped ship to join Dio, and he was replaced by Lanny Cordola. Of course by now Journey’s Escape was mega huge everywhere, and all the record companies were after their own version, and in David Glen Eisley they sure had a power house vocalist who could sing the ass off anything; especially the ballads.

Check out Love You Forever, this could have been on any Journey album. For some reason the format of putting all your best tracks on the first side is reversed for this album, as all the best tracks are on Side 2; which is quite apt as it is called Side Steel. Side 1 is overloaded with ballads and slower AOR style tunes, except for opener No Escape which rocks hard with a killer solo. Side 2 kicks in with Radio, and a fat riff opens things up instead of the usual keyboard intro. Lethal Lover is the standout track on the album, with some great guitar histrionics in the intro, as well as a huge hook and chorus. The very Def Leppard sounding Dirty Secrets closes out the album with a bang. There were demos made for a third album but they were dropped by MCA, and a lot of these demos would end up on the first House Of Lords album.

8/10 from The Grooveman.

After the demise of Angel, and before the House Of Lords, Gregg Giuffria decided to go at it alone with a band named after himself. At the time, Journey were becoming mega huge and every record label wanted in on the action. So MCA signed the band on the premise that they would deliver an album in that vein. All songs are original here, and are mostly Giuffria and David Glen Easley cowrites, and three tracks have Craig Goldy added to the mix. The band recorded three albums of which this is the first, and the third one was never released.

You can tell what the record company were aiming for with the singles that came from the album in Call To The Heart and Lonely In Love – both very radio friendly syrupy love songs. The band cut loose and rock out occasionally on tracks like Don’t Tear Me Down, Line Of Fire, and Trouble Again where Craig Goldy is allowed to show his chops – but mostly this is a keyboard sausage fest. Eisley’s voice does sound like Steve Perry on certain tracks, and whether that’s natural or not you can guess for yourself. This is a pomp/aor fans wet dream, but for me it’s just an ok record that doesn’t quite hit the spot.

7/10 from The Grooveman.