Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force

This Swedish bloke with the unpronounceable forename started off in L.A. club bands such as Steeler and Alcatrazz, but his lightning-speed fretboard wizardry quickly made him a solo star in his own right. For the first couple albums anyway...most of his later stuff sucks the big donkey dick. Well, the album he did with Rainbow's Joe Lyn Turner was okay, but I sold that one in a burst of stupidity...

"Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force"

  1. "Black Star"--instrumental (4:51)
  2. "Far Beyond the Sun"--instrumental (5:49)
  3. "Now Your Ships Are Burned" (4:09)
  4. "Evil Eye"--instrumental (5:12)
  5. "Icarus' Dream Suite, Op. 1"--instrumental (8:30)
  6. "As Above, So Below" (4:36)
  7. "Little Savage"--instrumental (5:21)
  8. "Farewell"--instrumental (0:48)

First time I heard "Now Your Ships Are Burned" on the radio I was blown away, not only by the frenetic guitar riffs, but also by Jeff Scott Soto's mournful vocals. Nearly all of this album is instrumentals of mixed quality, the slower stuff gets kinda boring. Also the production quality isn't that great, though it sounds more like bad CD mastering. Hey, I just looked at the musician credits and did you know that Barriemore Barlow of Jethro Tull plays on this album??

"Marching Out"

  1. "Prelude"--instrumental (1:00)
  2. "I'll See the Light, Tonight" (4:24)
  3. "Don't Let it End" (4:07)
  4. "Disciples of Hell" (5:55)
  5. "I Am a Viking" (5:58)
  6. "Overture 1383"--instrumental (2:59)
  7. "Anguish and Fear" (3:47)
  8. "On the Run Again" (3:22)
  9. "Soldier without Faith" (6:08)
  10. "Caught in the Middle" (4:17)
  11. "Marching Out"--instrumental (3:08)

A classic CD all around, with nary a weak song to be found. (Well, the final instrumental is kinda boring, making the end of the CD sound dreadfully anticlimactic.) And with vocals this time! Jeff Scott Soto must be one of the most underrated vocalists in rock--and unknown as well, what ever happened to him? A bit of worthless trivia here, my brother once found a record by some band called Silver Mountain which featured the keyboardist & drummer brothers Johanssen, Anders and Jens. Had a real stupid-looking cover and the music was purely awful. And since I told you that might as well add that Jens briefly joined Dio, and now plays for Stratovarius.

"Odyssey"

  1. "Rising Force" (4:25)
  2. "Hold On" (5:11)
  3. "Heaven Tonight" (4:06)
  4. "Dreaming (Tell Me)" (5:19)
  5. "Bite the Bullet"--instrumental (1:36)
  6. "Riot in the Dungeons" (4:22)
  7. "Deja Vu" (4:17)
  8. "Crystal Ball" (4:55)
  9. "Now is the Time" (4:34)
  10. "Faster Than the Speed of Light" (4:30)
  11. "Krakatau"--instrumental (6:08)
  12. "Memories"--instumental (1:13)

One of the most pop-metal oriented Yngwie albums, due in no small part to Joe Lyn Turner (ex-Rainbow) on lead vocals. (Indeed, I remember talk at the time about which name this album would be released under...heh, like Yngwie's ego would allow ANYONE to share his spotlight!!) Lots of pleasant, radio-friendly songs here, such as "Heaven Tonight" and "Crystal Ball" -- the last good music Yngwie ever produced, I believe.

Oddly enough, this CD is one of the rarest to find used -- I know this, because after selling my original CD in 1990 or so, I've watched the used bins for a replacement copy, and it took over TWELVE YEARS to locate one! Wonder what's up with that...

"Inspiration"

  1. "Carry on Wayward Son" (5:09)
  2. "Pictures of Home" (4:56)
  3. "Gates of Babylon" (7:12)
  4. "Manic Depression" (3:39)
  5. "In the Dead of Night" (6:11)
  6. "Mistreated" (7:29)
  7. "The Sails of Charon" (5:05)
  8. "Demon's Eye" (4:53)
  9. "Anthem" (4:18)
  10. "Child in Time" (8:07)

Well, here's Yngwie's contribution to cover album craze. Lucky score too, from Laser's Edge for a mere six bucks! And it's plain obvious where this guy's "inspiration" lies: FOUR songs from Deep Purple, and one from Rainbow!!! Doesn't that figure, the most talent-less hack of the 80's and 90's ripping off his style from Ritchie Blackmore, the biggest talent-less hack of the 70's (and beyond...) Other selections include tunes from Kansas, Jimi Hendrix (sung by Yngwie himself, and God help me if I ever hear is voice again), U.K., The Scorpions and Rush...I'll leave it up to you to figure out which songs are which.

And the result? A tedious mishmash of over-Yngwie'd guitar riffs which utterly ruin whatever magic the originals have to offer. The only really good version is "Gates of Babylon", which I already own on the Holy Dio tribute, in which he keeps his guitar shredding remarkably restrained, and original singer Jeff Scott Soto's vocals add a beautiful touch. Soto also sings on a few other tracks, while other vocal duties are held by former Rising Force singers Joe Lyn Turner (ex-Rainbow, Deep Purple) and Mark Boals (who's NOT ex-Uriah Heep, as I stupidly said before because I was too lazy to verify it. Thanks to everyone who made fun of me until I got off my ass and fixed that error.)

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