Here’s a band who initially had their hearts in the right place, but events would conspire to see Allied Forces become a pariah in the hard rock community.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Allied Forces (USA)
ALBUM: R.U Wilde
LABEL: Escape Music
SERIAL: ESM 039
YEAR: 1999
CD INFO: Discogs Info
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Jay Fischer – lead vocals * Ronnie Wilde – guitars * Vinny Tabone Jr. – bass, backing vocals, acoustic guitar * Pete Pandolfo – drums
Additional Musicians: Darcy Deutsch, Mike Behm, Danny Vaughn – guest lead vocals * Jim Wilson, Bill Bressler – keyboards
TRACK LISTING: 01 Allied Forces * 02 Medicine Man * 03 Thunder Nation * 04 Picking Up The Pieces * 05 All Out Of Love * 06 On The Run * 07 Lifetime To Share * 08 Eyes Of Wonder * 09 Party * 10 Stand By Me * 11 Take Me Away
Background
Allied Forces started life off as an early 80’s New York covers band based on melodic rock rather than HM.. This album was retrospectively reissued in 1999 as a collection of songs by Escape Music, the band includes Danny Vaughan, who was at one point the lead singer before departing for Waysted.
Allied Forces was formed by guitarist Ron Wilde, who was previously in a local NY band called Legend, featuring future Prophet and Danger Danger member Ted Poley. For its time, this is nice summary of a band who initially had their hearts in the right place, but unfortunately events would conspire to see Allied Forces become a pariah in the hard rock community.
The Songs
As mentioned, Danny Vaughan sings on a couple of songs. The title track ‘Medicine Man’ and ‘Thunder Nation’.. Funny how these are at the front of the album. Must be a marketing thing right? Read my thoughts on this in the summary section below. Not that this album is dominated by just these two songs, as the others are quite enjoyable in their own right. Cherry picking a few.
‘Picking Up The Pieces’ is a likeable slice of melodic rock with soaring vocals, while ‘All Out Of Love’ is not the Air Supply song, but a great guitar rocker with Boston like guitar tones. Upping the heaviness stakes to Dokken like proportions is ‘On The Run’.
Skipping ahead to the mainly acoustic ‘Eyes Of Wonder’, this one is a canvas filled panoramic musical vista. ‘Party’ and ‘Stand By Me’ are fun filled anthem based rockers, while ‘Take Me Away’ finishes the album in a strong manner, stealing a few ideas and licks from James Byrd and his fantastic band Fifth Angel.
In Summary
According to Danny Vaughn, the tracks that feature his vocals should not have been included on this album. It seems that Wilde and Escape Music ventured into a deal against the original intent and spirit agreed on by Wilde and Vaughn, in that the proceeds would go to charity. Instead, Wilde has received all the profit personally, with none of the former band members involved.
It’s a wonder we’re reviewing this album at all based on this information. Despite the music being of a reasonable quality, there is still a lot to be said about the merits of business dealings in the world of rock n roll. Mr Wilde, you need to go and have long hard look in the mirror.
