Graham Bonnet, always renowned for his powerful vocal had returned to the scene with Alcatrazz his new band, which features one of rock’s potential axe wizards in Yngwie Malmsteen, plus two members of pomp band New England.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Alcatrazz
ALBUM: No Parole From Rock And Roll
LABEL: Rocshire
SERIAL: XR22016
YEAR: 1983
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Graham Bonnet – vocals * Yngwie Malmsteen – guitars * Jimmy Waldo – keyboards * Gary Shea – bass * Jan Uvena – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Island In The Sun * 02 General Hospital * 03 Jet To Jet * 04 Hiroshima Mon Amour * 05 Kree Nakoorie * 06 Incubus * 07 Too Young To Die, Too Drunk To Live * 08 Big Foot * 09 Starcarr Lane * 10 Suffer Me
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
Graham Bonnet – famous for his ‘grand exit’ from MSG before the Reading Festival in 1982 and Rainbow before that, disappeared to a self induced exile to California. Well, he re-emerged, fronting a new lineup that’s a virtual supergroup in it’s own right, despite their indifferent backgrounds.
Bonnet, always renowned for powerful vocal range had returned to the somewhat cruel pedestal of the rock world. Alcatrazz his new band, features one of rock’s potential axe wizards in Yngwie Malmsteen, who had previously played with Euro metal band Rising Force, as well as keeping company with Ron Keel‘s band Steeler.
Shea and Waldo came from pomp rockers New England while ex Iron Butterfly and Alice Cooper drummer Jan Uvena got the drumming spot ahead of such formidable opponents as Aynsley Dunbar and Bill Lordan.
This album thus introduces Malmsteen to a mainstream rock audience; the album’s material though is a bit up and down, but has some worthwhile moments.
The Songs
You would think that Bonnet’s vocals are not suited by the type of music that Alcatrazz play, which is a sometimes pomp sometimes rock mode, with Malmsteen’s lead guitar played at 78rpm. However, surprisingly, it holds up.
‘Jet To Jet’ is a pomp style song. When Malmsteen jumps in with his solo, it lifts it to another another level. Blackmore eat your heart out! ‘Island In The Sun’ despite the UFO intro similar to ‘Love To Love’ follows the same pattern.
A real raunch ‘n’ roll number is ‘General Hospital’, rounded off with some punchy guitar lines and inkly keyboards. The instrumental ‘Incubus’ has a Randy Rhoads like acoustic intro, leading into ‘Bigfoot’ a very rocky sounding track.
Biting guitar from Malmsteen prevails over moody and sombre vocals by Bonnet on ‘Starcarr Lane’ while the closer ‘Suffer Me’ could’ve gone out with a bang but doesn’t unfortunately.
In Summary
A promising start, but the best was yet to come. Apparently they weren’t so bad live, and things definitely got on the improve with the release of the excellent ‘Disturbing The Peace’ two years later. Malmsteen too had gone off on his own merry way to a solo venture, guitar monster Steve Vai taking his place.
The other major issue with this album was the involvement of record label Rocshire. This label was involved with all sorts of illegal activity, the husband and wife team of Rocky and Shirley Davis were later jailed for embezzlement a few years later. Some other artists were also tied up with the label too, including Tony Carey, Adrenalin, Citizen Kane and Willy Dee (Daffern)
Alcatrazz on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
