Danger Danger - Return of the Great Gildersleeves

Danger Danger's latest album is a mixed bag of material. There are some truly exceptional songs on here, like the ultra melodic "I Do" and the gorgeous Foriegner-esque ballad "She's Gone". Some of this stuff is so pure 80s that it will give the nostalgic types chills and bring tears to the eyes. Oh yeah this is the music we really loved, a slice of metallic heaven in the pure biting 80s guitar hero solos and soaring gorgeous vocals. More vintage 1980s touches in little extras like plush keyboard backgrounds and chimes scattered throughout to give a rich feeling. But wait a second... they follow up these moments of brilliance with some truly horrible stuff. Bottom of the barrel, alternative modern rock offkey pure shit, even worse than the crap on TNT's "Firefly". The result is a very strange record. Its disheartening to be on a melodic rock flight through the glam packed sleaze rocker "When She's Good"only to have "Six Million Dollar Man" to follow it, a true waste of time and space. Layers of grungy guitar, whiney vocals, the old 'robot voice', and the sounds of a 70s nightmare mixed up into a truly terrible song. It doesnt get much worse than this thankfully. This guy can really sing, and do it well, and they have proven several times that they can write some blockbuster AOR tracks, so why even bother with these horrid dives in quality? Even the stuff with potential like "Cherry Cherry" could have been so much better, with its boring chorus and drawling vocals, it falls flat, and lacks the punch that made tunes like this so delightful. Yet it points right back to "When She's Good", a song that takes all the elements of good glam resulting in an awesome, authentic modern day piece of AOR greatness. Also I will note that "Cherry Cherry" has Bruno on vocals instead of the usual Paul Laine. "Dead Drunk and Wasted" is dark lyrically and musically and is like Def Leppard injected with way too many grunge influences, however the bridge is decent, although its rough gritty approach actually grows on you after time. "My Secret" is different. It has that lackluster, drugged out acoustic banging sound that has made pop radio in the US a thing to stay far away from. The piano doodlings are passable but there's little else salvagable here. "Get In the Ring" is a sonic assault, heavy, big track, that rocks hard and delivers even harder. Its been processed with a heaping of moderness which detracts big time from the flow of the song. Overall its not bad, but could have been better.

On the flip side are the good tracks of course, starting out with the last track on the album, "Walk It Like You Talk It" hits like a ten ton heavy thingie, and aims right at the 'posers'. Fast, blistering and pounding, this is the kind of stuff Motley Crue should have released instead of their "Generation Swine" thing (can that even be classified as music though?). "Dead Dog" is another hard and tough song, ringing out with dark conviction and some gutter guitar and vocals that start out blistered wistful, then increase in volume and moodiness. Punchy chorus, that reminds me very much like a few tracks from Winger's "Pull" album, with the dramatics expanded with a little violin tossed in. Some awesome guitar/violin/vocal play ensue later. Very cool. The album opener, "Grind", smacks you right between the eyes, with a nice slab of down n dirty guitar riffing, and follows up with some raspy Joe Elliot'ish vocals and Def Lep-ish lyrics delivered with that bad boy sneer and dive on each last note per verse. Guitar solo is sharp and piercing with lower keyed breathless vocals that soar back upward into the toe tapping chorus. This one will get you up and dancing. The already mentioned, "When She's Good" is an appropriate follow up to "Grind", another sleaze track that declares "she's red hot nonstep sex on heels from dusk til dawn, even on Sundays". Sound like a glammized track do ya think? Of course, but we love it. The chorus milks this even harder, borrowing a ton from... Def Leppard "Adrenalize", which soars higher than the stars, but the nitty gritty guitar solo brings it down to earth again. Cool contrasting, which tops off a superb track. Worth noting is the fact that "When She's Good" and "Walk It Like You Talk It" are actually the third versions of these songs that have been recorded. The originals were done for the illfated and never released "Cockroach" album, one version which featured Poley on vocals (1993) and the second with then newcomer and current vocalist Laine (1994). It would have been the follow up to "Screw It!" but as of this writing, neither versions of "Cockroach" have seen the light of day yet. But third time's a charm, and these two tracks have found the light of the day in beefier, bigger versions than their humble, partially produced beginnings.

After starting out by reviewing the shabbiest material and slowly working the way up to the gems of the album, I find myself with two tracks left to touch upon, and both are not only gems but melodic diamonds, and the sole reason the hefty word "brilliant" has been tossed about carefully in this review. First there's, "She's Gone", a huge track for this album, one of its central and driving forces. It taps into a dreamy, otherwordly feel with its lush keyboards, and gentle delicate sounds, gorgeous, inviting. It beckons the listener to come aboard for a flight into the pains of heartache, much like the elegantly wistful 1981 Foriegner track "Girl on the Moon". Many comparisions can be drawn between these two songs, but both ring out to be timeless classics. This ballad will be able to go head-to-head in many years, perhaps even a decade or two to come. I have not heard an AOR ballad this good in several years, Steelhouse Lane, came close, but this overshadows their efforts ten fold. The lyrics are also similiar to "Girl", both deal with the basis of coping with the fact that a love is gone/now out of reach. Simply breathtaking, a tear jerker if Ive ever heard one. Starting out full throttle speed ahead, "I Do", is given added spark with some cool Foriegner-esque keyboard touches throughout. Pure melodic hard rock from start to finish with a HUGE chorus, this one just reaches out and grabs the heart and squeezes it. There's a galloping riff that brings the listener back to the days of glory Dokken. With a really pumped up production, this one is just fantastic.