Album Review: Night Ranger: High Road

If your familiarity with Night Ranger begins and ends with "Sister Christian", well, you're not alone. And that's a shame. While "Sister Christian" is the quintessential ballad of 80's hard rock, Night Ranger is, and always has been so much more.

Night Ranger released their 11th studio album last month, High Road. It may just be their best effort yet. Over 30 years after their debut release Dawn Patrol, Night Ranger is still bringing it. While years of hard living and age have taken something away from Jack Blades and Kelly Keagy in the vocal department, the musicianship has only improved.

This is probably the most diverse record Night Ranger has put out. From classic 80's-style rockers to KISS meets Loverboy to a Styx/Kansas/Deep Purple 70's style mashup, it's all good.

Here's the shame of it all: Nobody outside of hardcore Night Ranger fans and good music archaeologists is going to hear it if left up to traditional outlets.  If you're reading this, you don't rely on traditional outlets, so I'm going track-by-track here.

The record starts off with the title track "High Road". Fun summertime song. Big chorus. "You don't need us, you need a mind of your own." Favorite line from the song. Roll down the windows and blast this one.

"Knock Knock Never Stop" is pure 80's-style fun. Catchy chorus. Big guitar solo. Which is a good time to mention guitarists Brad Gillis and Joel Hoekstra. Killer guitar riffs throughout this record.

"Rollin' On" brings on the heavier side of Night Ranger. This is the KISS meets Loverboy song. If you don't see the connection, listen to more music.

"Don't Live Here Anymore" is a 70's style ballad the evokes the sounds of Styx and Kansas with a touch of Deep Purple and Lynyrd Skynyrd. This may be my favorite song on the album, but I may change my mind tomorrow. There are so many layers to the song. Lyrically it's mature and introspective. Musically it goes so many places, and all are good.

"I'm Coming Home" is a classic country lyric set to Thin Lizzy style rock music. Or maybe it's just reminiscent of Thin Lizzy. It's catchy and it rocks.

"X Generation" falls a bit flat, especially lyrically, but the guitar work almost makes up for that.

"Only For You Only" is the kind of ballad Night Ranger made famous. It's not bad. It's not great. There's no place in current rock radio for it to find a home, but it would be better than 90% of what's being played on current country radio. And no, it's not a country song. But neither is mainstream country radio.

"Hang On" is a very Classic Rock sounding song that would be very much at home on an early Foreigner record. But it doesn't sound dated.

"St. Bartholomew" starts out with the chug of early Judas Priest, but seamlessly transforms by the chorus into a melodic rock track.

"Brothers" is very Beatles-esque. I don't know how else to describe it. Probably my least favorite track. But it's not horrible.

"L.A. No Name" ends the record and is very un-Night Ranger like. It's an acoustic guitar instrumental. And it's fantastic.





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Retro Album Spotlight: Night Ranger: Dawn Patrol

Inarguably, Night Ranger's greatest success came with the release of 1983's Midnight Madness with the anthemic "(You Can Still) Rock in America" and the prototypical power ballad "Sister Christian". However, their 1982 debut Dawn Patrol, still stands as one of their best, and my personal favorite.

I've found that debut albums are often some of my favorites. Why? The artist/band has had their whole lives to construct 10 good songs. After that, they have a year or two to put a record together. Granted, a lot of bands go on to make better records, but there is still something special about that first one, both as a consumer and an artist.

Dawn Patrol is one of those special records.

It starts out with the minor hit "Don't Tell Me You Love Me", which gives you a good idea of what Night Ranger is all about: Hair Metal before it was a thing.

The next track, "Sing Me Away" is kind of forgettable. Then we have "At Night She Sleeps" in which we get a taste of the lyrical genius of Night Ranger (tongue planted firmly in cheek here). But they really did have some interesting lyrics: "She's seals her fate in a car on a date with some loser from Birmingham". (Sorry Alabama or England, however you wish to interpret). 

"Call My Name" is one of my favorite songs of all time. And the 2nd verse has some of my favorite lyrics of all time:

"Your silhouette always appears in my window

I close my eyes and hear

The applause of at least a thousand different strangers

Every one seems sincere

Or did you notice?

Was it you that I hear?"

Okay, so it's not high brow poetry. But I like it. And that's all that matters.

This album came out in the cassette era (saddens me that kids today will never know the side one/side two element) and ends with "Eddies Comin' Out Tonight". The chorus is a bit trite, but the verses are quite interesting.

Side two (yeah, I'm still in cassette mode) opens with three standard rockers, "Can't Find Me A Thrill", "Young Girl in Love" and "Play Rough". While they are not throwaways or filler, they are not among my favorites. Others may disagree. And that's fine.

The next song, "Penny", is not that distinguishable from the previous songs, other than I like it better.  That's just personal preference.

The record ends with the eponymously named "Night Ranger'.  It's not bad, it's not great.

No, this is not an iconic record. It's just good. And underrated in the Night Ranger lexicon. 

My favorite song, enjoy before YouTube crashes everything.

You can still Rock in America. At least today.

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