Alcatrazz - Rock Justice - Complete Recordings 1983-1986

Following stints in bands like Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow and the Michael Schenker Group along with several solo albums, vocalist Graham Bonnet formed Alcatrazz.  The band was rounded out with former New England and Warrior members Jimmy Waldo on keys and Gary Shea on bass, former Iron Butterfly and Alice Cooper drummer Jan Uvena and a then 20-year-old Yngwie J Malmsteen, who had previously recorded one album with the band Steeler, on guitar.  While two different versions of the band are still around today (a Graham Bonnet lineup and a Waldo Shea lineup), the new box four-disc box set Rock Justice - Complete Recordings 1983-1986 contains their first four releases and also includes rare and unreleased bonus tracks from the vaults.

No Parole From Rock ‘N’ Roll, their debut release, gets the box started and to me is the strongest of their releases.  I remember fondly listening to it over and over after purchasing it when it was released back in 1983 and feeling like there was something special with this band and this album.  Bonnet’s vocals are outstanding throughout, there is plenty of Malmsteen’s classic guitar work, but it is often more restrained than his future playing, which definitely works better in the context of the songs, and Waldo’s organ playing does a great job fleshing out a lot of the tracks.  There is also plenty of diversity throughout the album while they still stay in that classic hard rock style.  On the lighter side of things, opener “Island In The Sun” and “Starcarr Lane” are a couple of solid hook heavy melodic rockers, and closing track is a nice power ballad with more laid-back guitar from Malmsteen.  With extremely dark and disturbing lyrics, “General Hospital” is a heavier, hard rock tune, and “Jet To Jet”, which is strongly reminiscent of Rainbow’s “Spotlight Kid”, and “Too Young To Die, Too Drunk To Live” are hard driving rockers, both with some great organ work.  “Hiroshima Mon Amour” is another organ driven track that is heavier and a bit dark, with a strong Deep Purple vibe, and “Big Foot” is a slower and moodier song that is a definite showcase for Malmsteen and shows signs of his future solo work.  The highlight of the album for me is “Kree Nakoori”, a very unique track with a Middle Eastern flavor that is a real showcase for Bonnet’s soaring vocal delivery, which takes on a life of its own here, and Malmsteen’s guitar work.  Disc one also includes one bonus track, a seventeen-and-a-half-minute interview with every member of the band. 

Bonnet and Malmsteen’s desire to be the focal point of the band led to an onstage fight between them resulting in Malmsteen’s firing from the band in 1984.  Replacing him for the follow-up album Disturbing The Peace was former Frank Zappa guitarist Steve Vai.  While there are some really strong songs here, it’s definitely a mixed bag and doesn’t stand up to the debut. The sound here is quite different and almost sounds like a completely different band.  Overall, it is a more generic sound and is missing a lot of the elements that made the debut what it was.  Waldo’s keys don’t have the presence they had before and when they are there, they don’t have the same effect.  Vai’s guitar work is outstanding, but it doesn’t work near as well for the band’s sound as Malmsteen’s did.  There also isn’t as much of the diversity here as there was on the debut and there is more emphasis on melodic rockers like the strong album opener, “God Blessed Video”, a hard driving song with some great guitar from Vai (you can definitely hear a lot of the same guitar sounds that he later brought to David Lee Roth).  Other tracks in this vein include “Sons & Lover”, one of the strongest cuts here, “Skyfire”, which has a bit of a harder edge, and the more laid-back “Will You Be Home Tonight”, one of the tracks where the keys still make an impact.  On the heavier side of things “Wire And Wood” is a solid, straight-ahead rocker and “Stripper” is a fast-paced, balls to the wall track that is unfortunately drug down a bit with its juvenile lyrics (what do you expect with that title) and a very Van Halen like spoken word section in the middle (a la “Hot For Teacher” and Unchained”).  A couple of the more interesting tunes, and definite highlights, are “Desert Diamond” and “Breaking The Heart Of The City”.  The former is a slow burning track that finds them delving into Indian music with some great sitar work from Vai, while the latter Is a slower and darker track, and one of the few that makes good use of Waldo’s organ, which is juxtaposed with Satriani’s more lively and upbeat guitar work.  Disc two also contains five more bonus tracks including a demo of the song “Emotion”, a really strong power ballad with some really strong bluesy guitar from Vai.  It's hard to believe this track didn’t make the album.  There is also a drunk driving PSA the band recorded, a couple of instrumental demos and a fifteen-minute band rehearsal from 1984 that’s an interesting listen, but probably not something you will listen to more than once.

The revolving door of guitarists continued when Vai left to join David Lee Roth’s band and in came Danny Johnson, formerly of Alice Cooper and Axis.  Unlike Malmsteen and Vai, there was really nothing distinctive about Johnson’s guitar work, and while Bonnet’s vocals were still top-notch, for the most part Dangerous Games ended up being a fairly generic melodic rock album.  Having said that it did still have its moments.  The album opens with the first of two covers, The Animals’ “It’s My Life”, which is a muscular rocker that is really good, but comes across a little dated with the eighties synths and singalong chorus.  Among the best tracks are “Ohayo Tokyo”, which is actually reminiscent of their debut and has some really good guitar work, and “Double Man”, an interesting rocker with a slower, dark and mysterious sound where all the pieces really come together, including the guitar and synths.  The second cover is the ballad “Only One Woman”, interestingly originally recorded by Bonnet’s sixties band The Marbles.  With more of a rock edge and Bonnet’s vocal performance, it is an album highlight, as is the the emotional power ballad “The Witchwood”.  Also worth mentioning are “No Imagination” and the title track, a couple of the better melodic rockers.  I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention the closing track “Night of The Shooting Star” (and last song of this era of the band), a short a cappella tune with the band ooh-ing and aah-ing in the background like the sound of a band throwing up their arms in defeat.  A mixed bag of seven more bonus tracks is tacked on the end of disc three.  Among these are a new version of “No Imagination”, remixed by Waldo in 2020, that really only sounds a little different, a demo of “Dangerous Games” with just Bonnet’s vocals and limited instrumentation, a Danny Johnson scratch vocal of “Let Me Go” (the song sounds like it had real potential, but thank goodness Johnson isn’t the vocalist), a couple of instrumental demos and a near fifteen minute writing session with Jimmy and Danny running through some songs.  Lastly, is “Lonely Rider”, a great track that’s melodic, but with an edge, full of chugging guitars and synths.  It also has a guitar solo that is far better than anything on the album and again it's a mystery why this track didn’t make it.   

The final disc, titled Capitol Crimes - The Unreleased Sessions (1985-1986) is a collection of demos and new mixes from Jimmy Waldo.  Most notable here are demos of two tracks that I’m assuming were recorded for the next album, and a 2020 remix from Waldo of another.  “Set Me Free” is a strong, midtempo rocker with a hint of Rainbow and “Losing You Is Winning” is a hard rocking melodic rocker.  Johnson’s guitar work stands out much more on these tracks and the synths mesh much better.  The third new track is “Please Call Me”, another strong power ballad, which is something the band always excelled at.  It really sounds like they were heading in a better direction and it’s a shame the next album never came to fruition.  There is a different version of “Emotion” and a more polished 2020 mix of “Rider” (aka “Freedom Rider”), two unreleased tracks that appear elsewhere in the box set.  A couple of soul/R&B covers are also included, but unfortunately neither works very well.  While the vocals are very strong, and it’s quite possible the band was just messing around in the studio, but their take on the Holland-Dozier-Holland track “A Love Like Yours” is kind of odd with keys that sound plunky and drumming that sounds like it’s on a cardboard box.  On the other hand, “When A Man Loves A Woman” is very good musically, but they key is too high and Bonnet sounds like he’s straining.  Lastly, there are three demo versions of three Dangerous Games tracks.  Even though it's less than perfect, Rock Justice - Complete Recordings 1983-1986 is a great look back at the first era of Alcatrazz.

(HNE Recordings)