Flashback CD Review #81 - Glenn Tipton - Baptizm Of Fire

[TageRyche]

This review was written for the Rock Is Life.com website in 2006.

Glenn Tipton
Baptizm Of Fire (Remastered)
Rhino Records - 2006
http://www.glenntipton.co.uk

What's The 4-1-1?

Rhino Records has remastered and reissued the Judas Priest guitarist's 1997 solo debut album with two bonus tracks.

Genre

Hard Rock / Heavy Metal

The Good

I liked the opening riff from track #1, "Hard Core" and the melodies on "Left For Dead". The second bonus track "New Breed" is actually quite good, surprisingly enough.

The Bad

The vocals suck, plain and simple. They are almost as universally bad as anything I've heard in quite some time.

The Verdict

The music is decent throughout the album but the album is constantly destroyed with Tipton's atrociously bad vocals. The only track that won't make you want to pull your ear drums out from listening to the singing is the last track "New Breed".

The available technology is out there, why didn't anyone think of trying to improve the singing? I have to wonder what Rhino was thinking, releasing a CD with vocals this wretched. Hell, I can sing that badly! I don't expect anyone is going to be signing me to a deal any time soon.

Did You Know?

Atlantic Records originally released this album back in 1997. The album is jam packed with guest appearances. The artists lending a hand include bassist Billy Sheehan (Mr. Big), keyboardist Don Airey (Deep Purple), bassist Robert Trujillo (Metallica) and Ugly Kid Joe singer Whitfield Crane.

Rating: 1 out of 5

[Jon]

You are dead on about the vocals. I was expecting so much more from this album, but that one thing made me listen to it once and that's it.

On the other hand, the Tipton, Entwistle & Powell is very, very good.

[TageRyche]

I have that CD as well and I believe a review will be coming up soon.

[RJhog (Admin)]

I picked this up for a buck a while back.  Haven't listened to it yet.  I actually bought 2 of 'em so I could eventually give one away on this site.

[TageRyche]

Not to sound all Fahrenheit 451 or anything but you'd be better off destroying one copy and keeping the other one in your collection so you can pull it out and show people "THIS IS WHAT A SHITTY CD IS!"

 

[Alan Christensen]

This is one of the CDs that I had, traded, and now have again (the original press).

Paint it Black is OK (It might be worth putting in a playlist). But other bands have done covers of the song too (Anvil, W.A.S.P.,I have a Dee Snider version).

I'm not sure if this is worth listening to again or not? If I do I'm sure I'll like P.I.B and the guitar playing.

This would still be a good item to give away, and an OK CD for a collection.

[Gordon Williams]

I like 2 songs on this release..."Fuel Me Up" and "Voodoo Brother". But I agree on bad vocals.

I also was quite surprised at how bad the production was on the original release. I hope the remastering has improved the quality. But I think I played this 2 or 3 times, and I would have to go on a "major hunt" to even find it in my collection now.