It would rank as Legs Diamond’s nearly forgotten album, and though 1986 wouldn’t rank as a great era for the band, ‘Land Of The Gun’ earns LD some plaudits among their faithful.
Written by: GDMOnline
ARTIST: Legs Diamond
ALBUM: Land Of The Gun
LABEL: Target Records, Music For Nations
SERIAL: TE 1349, MFN 59
YEAR: 1986
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Rick Sanford – vocals * Jim May – guitars * Mike Prince – keyboards * Mike Christie – bass * Jonathan Valen – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 My Own Game * 02 Falling In Love * 03 Waitin’ For The Night * 04 Steal A Heart * 05 Turn To Stone * 06 Raggedy Man * 07 Rok Doktor * 08 Land Of The Gun * 09 Twisted Love * 10 Right Between The Eyes
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
It would rank as Legs Diamond’s nearly forgotten album, and though 1986 wouldn’t rank as a great era for the band, ‘Land Of The Gun’ earns LD some plaudits among their faithful, even if the Deep Purple influence is not as strong here as on their earlier albums. Their 1984 effort ‘Out On Bail’ is possibly their most AOR oriented effort, and though low on quantity, it caused a bit of a ripple among the Legs Legion.
This album sort of came out of left field, and unless you kept an ear to the ground back in 1986, it’s quite possible that Legs Diamond along with this effort would have passed many by in that era, unlike the instanticity (is that a word? lol) of the Internet where we know just about anything before it happens! My how times change.
The Songs
‘My Own Game’ is the lead-off track, pumping away with a big brash sound not unlike that debut Workforce album. AOR fans will simple love the exquisite style of ‘Falling In Love’, Mike Prince’s keyboard work should get the melodic juices running.
Jim May’s guitar takes control of third track ‘Waitin’ For The Night’, before Prince lends his ivory-based melodies to events, synths and organs providing a double-team. ‘Steal A Heart’ starts out with a delicate piano run, but that makes way for some rollicking rock n roll, with a hint of Deep Purple thanks to Prince’s organ work.
‘Turn To Stone’ features some gimmicky synth sequences to start with, but converts to an intense slow tempo number which is laced with keyboards and lean on guitars. ‘Raggedy Man’ stutters along nicely, Rick Sanford giving his tonsils a good clear-out. ‘Rock Doktor’ is a bit of a Legs Diamond institution, a solid rocker with riffs that could easily grace an AC/DC album!
The title track is a return to that pure AOR sound once more, very melodic and rich. On ‘Twisted Love’, Jim May’s guitar takes on a coarse tone, the song itself pumping along on a slow-mid tempo and feeding off Sanford’s vocal power. The last track ‘Right Between The Eyes’ combines May’s guitar and Prince’s keyboards to great effect, the interplay element between the two makes for a compelling duo.
In Summary
I’m sure many of you would have acquired the original 2 on 1 CD from Music For Nations back in the day, this album doubled up with its predecessor ‘Out On Bail’ came out in 1990. However, the album also saw a private CD release in 2008 on Diamond Records. I think this was available from CD Baby at one point. A good album, closer to pure melodic rock/AOR than most with an emphasis on synths, keyboards, organ etc, but not enough to put off purist Legs Diamond fans from the glory days.
Video
Entire Album
