Flashback CD Review #111 - Desperado - Ace

This review was originally written for the Rock Is Life.com site in 2006 (Full disclosure, this CD was sent to me by guitarist Bernie Torme, whom I had as an email friend for a while after he read a review of a DVD he was involved in.

Desperado
Ace
Angel Air / Cleopatra Records - 2006
http://www.angelair.co.uk

What's The 4-1-1?

If you take the combined talents of singer Dee Snider, guitarist Bernie Torme, ex-Iron Maiden drummer Clive Burr and bassist Marc Russell, the album they'd produce is bound to be a fantastic helping of hard rocking music right?

The album, originally recorded in 1989 for Elektra Records, finally sees an official release some 15 plus years after it was supposed to thrill rock fans. The detailed liner notes give the whole sordid history of how trends in music and record company politics conspired to bury the album and thus the band.

Genre

Rock / Hard Rock

The Good

The short way to write up this section would be to say this album KICKS ASS! However, a bit more is expected so here's some details. The album kicks off with the real bluesy harmonica intro to "Hang 'Em High". You can just imagine yourself hearing this as background music to a western movie. It's excellent.

The three songs here that I had originally heard when they were redone for the first Widowmaker CD Blood and Bullets are "Gone Bad", "Calling For You", and "Emaheevull".

I was hesitant to hear them because I was worried that having heard the Widowmaker version first, I wouldn't like the original cuts of the tracks. Thankfully that wasn't the case.

"Gone Bad" sounds pretty much the same in both versions except I think Dee Snider's vocals were a bit rougher in the sound mix here, in a good way. "Calling For You" is superb, period. "Emaheevull" is as rousing here as the Widowmaker cut.

"Heart Is A Lonely Hunter" is a slow burning epic rocker. It is 7 minutes long and has some fantastic guitar work from Bernie Torme.

While the playing from everyone involved is top notch to my ears, I really enjoyed "See You at Sunrise" and "Son of a Gun" based mainly on the outstanding guitar work. For the former it was the outro and the solo in the latter that stood out most.

"Ride Thru the Storm" has a real catchy chorus and along with "Hang 'Em High" and the utterly superb "No Angels Here" makes up the list of my personal favorite cuts on the disc.

The Bad

I found nothing to complain about here worth mentioning. Well, the fact I had to wait 15 years to be able to play the album is a real pisser, but that's not on the band.

The Verdict

The last page in the CD booklet has a couple of lines that sum up the feelings of the band in regards to Elektra Records and their thoroughly botched handling of this album back in the early '90's. Let me add my voice to that sentiment which is unprintable here.

Desperado's Ace has a raw feel to the music and it serves the band well. There's not a moment here that feels like a mis-step and it is a music sin of the highest order that the band was denied a chance for me and other music fans to hear this album until now.

This one goes into my very hard to crack rotation of CDs that get played all year long. This is pure solid hard rock and roll with just the right combination of talented musicians doing what they do best. The writing team of Dee Snider and Bernie Torme need to provide more music fans to hear.

If you're truly never too old to rock and roll, then it is never too late to hear some long delayed/lost rock and roll either.

Did You Know?

Clive Burr is no longer able to perform due to his continuing battle with MS.

Marc Russell ended up staying with singer Dee Snider when the latter formed Widowmaker. The band lasted 2 albums. Russell's father was in the original Widowmaker group from the 1970's.

Bernie Torme joined Ozzy Osbourne's band when Randy Rhoads was killed in the infamous airplane crash.

Rating: 5 out of 5