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Whenever I thought of Southern Californian glam metal, I will think of these Yankees alongside with GNR and Buckcherry. One of the 90s Californian hair metal bands that capture my attention. It's pity that they have disbanded.
The band's major hit was the massively poplar power ballad High Enough, which was actually a pretty rockin' song, especially compared to Bad English's sappy When I See You Smile. Each was a respected songwriter, but together they made a brilliant songwriting team, not just for Damn Yankees but for other artists as well.If you're a fan of 80's rock, hair metal, or any of the band member's earlier work, the two Damn Yankees albums (this one and 1992's Don't Tread) are must-have melodic rock albums. One of the last highly successful melodic rock groups of the 1990's, Damn Yankees was a supergroup featuring guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw (Styx), bassist/vocalist Jack Blades (Night Ranger), drummer Michael Cartelloni (Tommy Shaw's band) and guitarist/deer annihilator Ted Nugent.Musically, Damn Yankees was quite similar to Bad English, another high profile supergroup (featuring John Waite and members of Journey) of that era. The rest of the album was upbeat, melodic, and a good blend of Styx's arena rock, Night Ranger's melodies, and gonzo lead guitar by Nugent, who really cut loose with the closing track Piledriver.Perhaps the best thing about Damn Yankees is that it brought Tommy Shaw and Jack Blades together. They're about as perfect an example of the pre-grunge, early 90's hard rock sound as it gets. It was the logical progression of each band member's earlier 80's AOR work into the hair metal era. The result was a very slick, polished, melodic hard rock sound that was appealing to hard rock fans and pure gold to mainstream radio and MTV.
If you like rock bands that can sing you need to get this CD. If you like good music that is well crafted you'll like this CD. If a CD has at least three good songs its worth buying and this CD has eight. If you like Ted Nuggent and the rock from the 80's and early 90's you'll like this CD.
Every true fan of the Rock Genre should own all 3. Tommy Shaw and Jack Blades went on to make "My Hallucination" in 1995 witch is another great CD. This is still on of the best Rock n' Roll CD's out there. There is not a bad song on this disk or the follow-up "Don't Tread." These guys truly are a super group.
The rest of the songs on this disc are ok with rather juvenile lyrics and typical power rock instrumentation. The title track "Damn Yankees" is a fist pumping anthem, and Ted's finale "Piledriver" is pretty much what we have come to expect from the Motor City Madman. "Runaway" is a good Tommy Shaw tune.
Damn Yankees was a "supergroup" project that put together Ted Nugent, Tommy Shaw (Styx), Jack Blades (Nightranger) and drummer Michael Cartellone for two albums of early 90's era heavy rock. Shaw sticks to rhythm guitar on this disc with Ted contributing most of the lead. Wow has it really been 16 years since this album came out.
This is not what I would call a great album, but there are some decent songs on it. Amazon has this CD listed used for.39 cents so if you have ever thought of checking it out you can get it cheap. The album spawned the huge hit ballad "High Enough" and it looked for a while as if this band were going to be really big.
All 3 of the big name musicians pretty much get equal billing on this one with Shaw, Blades, and Nugent sharing lead vocal duties.
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