Tag: keel (Page 1 of 2)

As it stands at the minute, this is the last album Keel made and released back in 2010. Although, this is a Night Of The Vinyl Dead reissue from 2021.

Apart from bassist Geno Arce, it’s all OG Keel members here including Marc Ferrari and Bryan Jay with that twin guitar attack. Playing this now, it’s over 40 years since the debut Keel album and boy do I feel old.

So, is this just another rendition of Frontiers digging up bands from the rock n’ roll graveyard release or is it a bonafide full on Keel record? Well, I’m glad to say it’s the latter as this baby is chock full of Keel signature rock n’ roll anthems. It’s as though the clock stopped in ’85 and the past 40 years never happened.

Streets of Rock ‘N Roll, Hit The Ground Running, Push & Pull, No More Lonely Nights, The Devil May Care, Looking For A Good Time, Bothers In Blood, and my personal fave Come Hell Or High Water are all seriously great tracks.

Well done Keel for delivering the goods.

8.5/10 from The Grooveman.

So, after Steeler went their separate ways it wasn’t long after that Keel was born. This is their debut album and was released in ’84 on Shrapnel Records. After this, they signed a major label contract with Vertigo and put out The Right To Rock which contained three songs from this release. They were Speed Demon, Tonight You’re Mine, and the Stones’ cover Let’s Spend The Night Together.

Anthems are Ron’s forte and that’s what made his name. Lay Down The Law, Born Ready, Metal Generation, and my favourite Speed Demon are this record’s anthem contributions. I do like a double guitar assault and Brian Jay and Marc Ferrari complement each other really well.

It’s not the best Keel album, it is quite raw sounding but for a debut, it rocks.

7.5/10 from The Grooveman.

This is album number four from Keel, released back in ’87 and the transformation to a hair band is all complete. The sound was lot more raw and aggressive with the Steeler album and the first Keel album Lay Down The Law, and I guess they wanted to appeal more to the MTV generation hence the more polished sound and radio friendly material.

In fact, the songs here are bordering on pop at times, especially Cherry Lane and Calm Before The Storm. The hard rockin’ chest beating anthems are in short supply on this record with King Of The Rock and my favourite 4th July – the only ones to get you enthused. The Michael Wagener production is quite weak and all the balls has been removed.

I guess Gene Simmons didn’t do a bad job for these anyway.

6/10 from The Grooveman.

This is album number three for the band that everyone loved to hate and it was also the highest charting album Keel had, peaking at #53. Again, this album was produced by Gene Simmons giving it that Kiss sound. I think the main reason that the hate comes their way is for the vocals of Mr. Keel himself, as they are not that great and very similar in each track.

Musically, they have their moments mainly due to the Marc Ferrari songs. Rock N’ Roll Animal sounds huge and I love the guitar sound, and even the vocal harmonies are cool. Raised On Rock was a single from the album and is a mildly entertaining chest thumper. The best song on the album is the only uptempo rocker on the record and the last track, No Pain No Gain. Great riff and groove and there definitely should have been more of these on the album.

6.5/10 from The Grooveman.