Artist: Night Ranger 
   Title: Live In Japan - Rockin' Shubuya 2007
   Label: Frontiers Records

Now I grew up on a diet of live albums, 'Made In Japan', 'Double Live Gonzo', 'Kiss Alive I & II', 'One More From The Road', 'Live in the Heart Of The City', 'Highway Songs Live', 'If You Want Blood', 'Unleashed In The East', 'Cheap Trick Live At Budokan', 'Journey Captured', the list is endless.  These albums were the benchmark we measured our favourite bands performances on. 

Then I got talking to a well-known producer in the mid 80's who gave it to me straight between the eyes ... he said, and I quote, “your favourite live albums ain't live”.  He went on to say that at most I could expect the drums to have been recorded live, sometimes the audience, I was to say at the least deflated and I approached live albums with a totally different mindset thereafter.  The last 8 years or so has seen a shift towards a more honest representation in the live sphere and so here I am about to review another favourite band. 

Like a lot of bands from the 80's Night Ranger still have fervent fan-base in Japan so in support of their last studio album 'Hole In The Sun', they played a few dates over there last year and recorded this live album.  Funnily enough the last live album they released was recorded in Japan in 1997 although that one was a more slick affair than what we have here (think drums only, possibly).  The line-up on here features Reb Beach, (Winger, Dokken, Whitesnake) on guitar, filling in for the departed Jeff Watson and Michael Lardie (Great White) on keyboards. 

Kicking off in fine style with 'This Boy Needs To Rock', which veers into Deep Purple's 'Highway Star', the twin guitar solo rips and tears while Jack Blades and Kelly Keagy sing their hearts out.

This leads us straight into 'Tell Your Vision' from 'Hole In The Sun', the guitars are heavy and at the same time melodic.  Next we have my favourite tune from 'Dawn Patrol', 'Sing Me Away', this song has stood the test of time for the band, it still has that bite and THAT wonderful melodic chorus.

Following on with 'Touch of Madness' from the album of the same name, (got this on vinyl import)  I think Jack Blades has been hanging out with Uncle Ted too much judging by his intro to this.  This song shows that NR were capable of coming up with quality tunes after 'Dawn Patrol'.  Once again the twin guitars just kick ass.

Another newie 'Drama Queen', featuring Kelly on vocals, the song just powers along, you can feel the electricity.

'Rumours In The Air' slows things down a little but just listen to the guitar interplay at the beginning.  Night Ranger knew how to write songs that would stand the test of time back then .

From the album of the same name we get 'Seven Wishes', Kelly Keagy kicking the song off before the guitars and keys join in until JB eases his vocals into the mix.  Surprise of the album has to be 'Secret Of My Success', from the 'Big Life' album.  This song epitomises the late 80's and JB and KK deliver a fine vocal performance.  Slowing things down for 'There Is Life' from the last studio album, KK's voice seems a little raw.

Finishing CD one we have 'Eddie's Coming Out Tonight', I always had to play this song at the Rock Nights for one guy (hello Kev!!), he just loved this tune, and on here it has a definite raw feel to it,

'Sentimental Street' starts CD Two, with some beautiful keyboards from Michael Lardie then Kelly's vocals come in and that little falter in the voice brings a smile to my face.  If this ain't live they did a bad job in the studio trying to bring it up to scratch.

The band then launch into an acoustic section with 'Forever All Over Again' and Reb Beach opening the semi-acoustic 'Goodbye'.  The crowd get behind the band on these tracks, clapping and singing along

Then it's back to the 'Hole In The Sun' album for 'Whatever Happened', this song is a bit grungy but seems to work well live.

'Four In The Morning' from 'Seven Wishes' brings the band back onto the sound that built their reputation in the 80's and this leads us into 'When You Close Your Eyes' with Jack and Kelly sharing vocal duties.

Jack then introduces my favourite all time Night Ranger track, 'Don't Tell Me You Love Me', this song just oozes drive and melody.

The band slow things down with 'Sister Christian', probably their best known tune and Kelly ushering the crowd to sing with him, probably because the voice ain't what it used to be but the rawness of it gives it that feel.

Back to the HITS album for 'You're Gonna Hear From Me', this is a foot stomper and will probably feature in many future live shows.  The band finish of the show with the classic '(You Can Still) Rock In America' (or Japan as Jack informs us at the beginning. 

This album features 5 songs from HITS and 2-3 don't work well in a set that features songs the band built their reputation on.  This double cd has enough classics to satisfy the appetite of the most discerning fan of the band.  They rock the shit out of the old songs they sound immense and these songs have stood the test of time. 

This album may have a few overdubs on it but I'm willing to bet the majority of it is how it went down that night.  I'm going to enjoy playing this over the years and I hope you do to. 

Review by: Brassy

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