Night Ranger - Somewhere in California

Night Ranger formed in 1982 in San Francisco, after numerous name and line up changes dating back to 1979. Night Ranger had a few successful albums throughout the 80's and 90's, but were never regarded as a respectable "headliner" band. This is surprising since many of their most famous songs are very catchy and receive a lot of radio play, even today, but the band always remains anonymous. Night Ranger is almost like a one-hit wonder... except with more hits. For instance the songs "You Can Still Rock in America" "Don't Tell Me You Love Me" "Sing Me Away" "Sister Christian" "When You Close You Eyes" "Sentimental Street" and "Secret f My Success" are all songs that anyone who lived through the 80's and even young people today can easily recognize. The difficulty faced by the band is their genre and production. Night Ranger was in between mainstream and metal during their popularity, and had trouble reaching a large audience, the metal heads thought they were too pop, and the mainstream audience did not want to by a metal album. Their album production is also very misleading for their audience, for their early records were very heavily keyboard driven and sounded just the same as everything else that was being recorded at the time. However, I have had the pleasure of witnessing this band in concert twice, and they are gifted both technically from a musician's aspect, and are equally entertaining from a good-time music listener's perspective. Once you have seen Night Ranger live though, their albums don't quite pack the punch that their music should have, the keyboards sound dated, the guitars aren't fierce enough, and the music doesn't quite have that in your face rock and roll intrigue. However on their most recent album, "Somewhere In California", the band is put together much better, and their song writing is as good as it has ever been.

The album opens with the rumbling bass and guitar opening of "Growing Up in California". This is a great opening track reminiscent of their earlier hits, with a little keyboard to support the vocals, but the music is predominantly guitar. Jack Blades sounds phenomenal as ever singing on this track, and he hasn't lost a step in aging. The song is really catchy and features some dueling guitar licks, a trademark of Night Ranger. Overall, this song could have ben written back in the 80's, but sounds even better now with the newer, louder, prouder Night Ranger sound.

The second track is the heavier sound "Lay It On Me". The Drums and Bass on this tune are absolutely primal and downright mean. The guitar comes in with a ticked off crunchy riff, and the vocal's sound like Jack Blades is telling everyone to just back of after a long night of exhausting partying. This song may be the weakest track on the album and it is still a good song, definitely not filler material.

The next song "Bye Bye Baby (Not Tonight)" returns to the good time mood that Night Ranger is known for. The song deals with reminiscing of a girl who has long since passed by. The vocals are so addicting, and the harmonization becomes very apparent as another layer of depth to this ever talented band. This song doesn't necessarily stand out as different from most of the songs on the album since it sticks to the formula that works really well for these guys.

"Follow Your Heart" follows with an intro comparable to a Deep Purple-esque Organ fill. When Brad Gillis comes in with his guitar melody, he dazzles the listener with his beautiful runs. This song packs quite a bit of punch, while still having enough melody to be pleasing to any sort of listener. This song is just a lot of fun and sounds really good when cranked up loud.

"Time of Our Lives" is a beautiful piano ballad. Naturally this song will be compared to their previous succesful ballads ("Sister Christian" and "Sentimental Street"), and most will proably favor the classics. However if listened to on it's own this song has a more matured flavor to it, such as a fine wine would, and even though it may not be as catchy as their earlier hits, this song is perhaps more heartfelt.Only complaint is perhaps the feeling of this song would have made a better send off to the album, concluding the disc.

"No Time To Lose Ya" jumps back on the Night Ranger bandwagon, with some bad boy Rock N Roll. This weekend song embodies a party atmosphere and the rush of trying to cram everything into one night. The track is a lot of fun and greatly displays the once again very strong vocals of Jack Blades, an the rest of the band.

"Live For Today" is a little more modern sounding than anything else on the record. This could perhaps be considered the most important track as it combines upbeat music with a great range of passionate emotions. Listeners don't know whether to cry, sing, yell, laugh, or just smile when this song plays, but it is an absolute gem. The intricate and detailed guitar work is spectacular and Gillis has a phenomenally ardent guitar solo. This tune is great for a lover of any kind of music, as it can be universally appreciated.

"It's Not Over" starts out hot and Heavy with big pounding drums and throbbing bass. Soon the dueling guitar intro comes in reminiscent of "You Can Still Rock in America" however by the time the verse starts with the vocals, the band's new found depth outdoes much of their earlier work. Although a slightly more serious song, this tune is still very catchy and pleasing to listen to and sing along to.

"End of the Day" begins with a mysterious and solitary guitar arpeggiated introduction. This intro is very outlaw or desert sounding, in comparison to other songs such as Bon Jovi's "Wanted" or Firehouse's "Reach For The Sky". This song is also a little more serious and darker than most of the album, but the vocal harmonies in the verse are spectacular. The guitar work is very good on this tune, but the bar has been set high by the other songs, so this track is a little more tasteful within the song and not quite so blow-you-out-of-your-seat. Overall, a solid song, even if it doesn't necessarily stand out as memorable.

The tenth song "Rock N' Roll Tonight" is a very fun song just about Rock N' Roll. These men certainly don't sound like they have been around for thirty years here, they sound like a bunch of adolescents trying to make it in the music world. The most exciting part of the song is the pre-chorus when the dueling guitar staccato's blend with references to Rocker's who have influenced the band.

The final track "Say It With Love" just another ballad right? Wrong. This song starts out slow, for about 3 seconds before the guitar and drums just kick your ears in the face. Jack Blades begins with a verse about all the regrets of life that have gone by. Then the chorus hits restoring hope in life and love, with beautiful harmonies and separate but united melodies from the guitar and keyboards. The guitar solo and post-solo break down are great. basically the entire song is just a shout out to the world that no matter what there is always hope and as long as we love one another and we love ourselves, anything is possible.

Overall this album was quite a surprise, even to a dedicated Night Ranger fan. Considering the album got almost no publicity and is virtually unheard of, this is one of the better Rock and Roll albums I have purchased in recent years. This is the best Night Ranger album by far, and it finally captures the true power and essence of this widely under appreciated band. I recommend this CD to absolutely any music lover and this is one of the few albums of late that is non-stop good music from start to finish. This is the definition of a Modern Classic!