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Music

The Night Flight Orchestra – Internal Affairs (2012)

2012 Album released that should not be forgotten.

Wow – what a classic rock album released in June 2012.

Internal Affairs

The Night Flight Orchestra (NFO) is a side project / super group of Bjorn Strid (Soilwork) on vocals, Sharlee D’Angelo (Arch Enemy) on bass, David Anderson (Meanstreak and Soilwork session player) on guitars, Jonas Kallsback (Meanstreak) on drums and Richard Larsson (Von Benzo) on drums.

Imagine Kiss, Alice Cooper, Bob Seger, Bee Gees, Boston, Deep Purple, Steely Dan, Led Zeppelin and Journey thrown into a blender.  The result is The Night Flight Orchestra.

1. Siberian Queen kicks it off with its combination of Led Zep’s Immigrant Song and Achilles Last Stand.  This icy princess from the Russian wilderness, starts to do the opposite and warm the ear buds for more.

2. California Morning kicks off with a Boston meets Kiss guitar riff to tell the story about  tearful goodbyes on the shores of the Pacific Ocean.

3. Glowing City Madness – This has an Elton John style vocal melody to tell the story of an Asian Dancer.

4. West Ruth Ave – Wow, what a catchy hook on this song.  This song is hit potential and it deserves to go viral so that everyone hears Bjorn’s story of fleeing Ft Lauderdale and ending up in Phoenix. It has that Gotye levels of catchy, a Kiss Dynasty / Foreigner / Bee Gees rock disco vibe and a Layla esque outro.

5. Transatlantic Blues – The first part is very Styx like and then it moves into a heavy Deep Purple meets Kiss War Machine style riff.  Even Jake E Lee referenced the same classic rock material for his Badlands project with Ray Gillan on vocals.

I read somewhere on the net that this song is about embarking on an inner journey and ending up in the middle of nowhere, shitfaced and listening to KANSAS.

6. Miami 5:02 – This is what happens when Van Halen meets Deep Purple.  Waking up in Florida in your birthday suit and a pair of Ray Bans.

7. Internal Affairs – Play That Funky Music White Boy meets Stevie Wonder Superstitious.  Nothing more should be said.  This funky ode is to a mysterious women from the age of the Cold War.

8. 1998 – is the 2012 version of Bob Seger’s classic 70’s recordings like Turn The Page and Night Moves crossed with the best of the Michael Stanley Band.  This song tells the story of travelling the endless highways of America.

9. Stella Ain’t no Dove – The threesome party anthem.

10. Montreal Midnight Supply – This is Deep Purple, 38 Special and Kiss Detroit Rock City stomping shuffle.  In the chorus it even sounds like Y&T’s Midnight In Tokyo.  Throughout the whole song you get that classic twin guitar feel of Thin Lizzy.

11. Green Hills of Glumslöv – Glumslöv is the small village in Sweden where Bjorn is from.  When you hear this song, you will get the instant sensation of the Warriors returning to Coney Island and Joe Walsh’s In The City playing in the background.  There is also a large Queen influence in this.

12. American High is the digital bonus track.

Overall its a great album.

What could have NFO done differently with this release?

Since they embraced the 70’s vibe in the music, in my view they should have embraced the 70’s vibe for marketing and released an 8 song album (Tracks 1 to 8) and then released ‘4 singles with a B side’.  Tracks 9 to 12 could have been the B sides.  Single material songs are West Ruth Ave, Internal Affairs, California Morning and Transatlantic Blues.

 

 

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Vito Bratta – White Lion – Pride Review

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1987 – Pride

This the album that brought White Lion and Vito Bratta to the masses.  According to stats from the RIAA it ended up selling two million copies in the US alone

Stand Outs

Hungry – the intro riff is heavy, the lead break fillers between gaps in the verse are killers.  The arpeggio bridge before the lead break, complete with volume swells is a good calm before the storm.  The lead break, is very Van Halen’ish, complete with tapping and whammy bar antics.  This song would inspire Firehouse.  Basically is about sex.  The original demo of the song had the lyric Hungry for your sex.

Lonely Nights – you can hear the pop formula working.  As with Hungry the chorus is very stadium like.  Similar structure to Hungry, with a clean arpeggio bridge before the Bratta solo section.  Where normally the tapping of Van Halen is chaotic, Bratta in this solo section is very melodic.  Song about heartbreak, clichéd yes, but Tramp does well to paint the picture in the mind of this little broken hearted girl standing in the rain.

Lady Of The Valley – epic song on the album, the Dm riff to kick it off is a classic.  Then the clean tone verses.  Tramp actually sounds like he is about to cry.  Even the lyrics are open to interpretation, its almost like the lady of the valley is this mystic healer and the treasure is the rebirth of the dead.  The solo section that begins after the lyric “Yes, I’ve laid him at your feet” can make the hairs rise on your neck is that good.

All Join Our Hands – Great intro.  “Lets all join our hands, Raise them together, Fight for the light that we feel”.  People can relate to this.  When I first heard it back in 1988, I was under the impression it was about starvation in Africa, as that came to the forefront, with We Are The World and HearNAid’s Stars.

When The Children Cry – the acoustic finger picking style of Vito was different to a lot of the 80’s guitarists, and very reminiscent to Dee from Randy Rhoads.  Anyway a song that can have multiple meanings my view is from an older person looking at the state of the world and saying to themselves, how did we mess this up for the next generation coming through in this world.

Clichéd Songs

Wait – with lyrics straight from a Michael Bolton album “Wait-wait – I never had a chance to love you, wait-wait – if only our love could show you”  Still cool song, and Bratta rocks it out.  Solo section is worth waiting for. 

Average Songs with Great Bratta Moments

Don’t Give Up – a lot of great Bratta moments in this song, I just cant get over the clichéd vocal delivery and the chorus of Don’t Give Up doesn’t inspire me to not give up.  The solo sections is full of arpeggio moments, as well as rehashing the vocal melody in a shredorado kind of way.  When artists write songs about doing it tough, working nine to five and not having enough to pay the bills, they can either get hit the mark or miss the mark with the listener.  In this instance Tramp, misses the mark big time.

Sweet Little Loving – saved by Vito’s solo section.  Again this is a demonstration of a song within a song.  It’s a shame that Mike Tramp couldn’t be more creative with his lyrics and melodies.

All You Need Is Rock N Roll – Vocal delivery and lyrics are lame.  Bratta keeps it in control with his riffing.  This song is meant to say, if you are feeling down and lonely, all you need is rock n roll.  The message is cool, but just like Don’t Give Up, Tramp fails to connect with me.  I don’t feel it.

Tell Me – Its got that summertime riff like Y&T’s Summertime Girls, Ratt’s – One Step Away.  But then you have the singer saying Tell Me Baby, you will never let me go.  Again lack of imagination from Tramp.  Bratta again kills it in this song.

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Vito Bratta – White Lion – Fight To Survive Review.

1985 – Fight To Survive

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Stand Outs

Fight To Survive – musically brilliant.  Lyrically it’s good as well about street life and fighting to be alive each day. Great tapping intro that breaks down into the bass groove for the verse, with the volume swells and then it picks up for the big chorus.  Love the delay in the solo section.

All The Fallen Men – Very Neil Young Rocking in the Free World influence in the verses.  Then again this came before Neil Young.

El Salvador – The best song on this first album.  The flamenco intro moving into the distortion riff is brilliant.  You can hear Al DiMeola’s Mediterranean Sundance.  And once the song kicks its all Thin Lizzy.  Phil Lynott would be proud.

Clichéd Songs

Broken Heart – Mike Tramp’s lyrics where typical of the 80’s.  Bratta shreds in the solo section with tapping and tap bends.

All Burn In Hell – reminded of Twisted Sister’s Burn in Hell.  Musically is typical of the 80’s.  Love the syncopated interlude before the solo.  Very modern alternative rock metal vibe there.  Solo section to me is a song within a song.

Bad Songs with Great Bratta Moments

Where Do We Run – reminds of a 100th rate AC/DC song in the verse.  Tramps lyrics and melodies are lame.  It’s a shame that it has a killer solo, very much in the vein of Randy Rhoads – Flying High Again and George Lynch – Tooth and Nail.

In The City – up until the interlude and solo section, where Bratta wails, the song sounds like a Y&T rip off lyrically.  Firehouse also did a song, where the vocal melody was similar.  Does anyone remember The Dream?

Filler Songs

Cherokee – again the lyrics are tacky, “Cherokee, riding free”.

Kid of a 1000 Faces – the less said about this song the better.

The Road To Valhalla – with that title I was expecting something epic.

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Vito Bratta – Unsung Hero

He was called an Eddie Van Halen clone.  There is no doubt that Van Halen was an influence, however a listen to the four White Lion albums Vito was involved in is a musical journey in classical, blues, rock, metal and pop.

1988 – Guitar World gives Vito Bratta the award for Best New Guitarist.

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UK Stars want anti piracy action

Just yesterday, Torrentfreak ran a post which had the following (at the bottom of the post) letter;

Isn’t it funny how Robert Plant signed it.  Yes the same Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin who ripped off other artists and didn’t credit them in during Led Zeppelin’s heydey.  Just check out the brilliant documentary “Everything is A Remix”.  vimeo.com/14912890

And now Robert Plant wants a strong domestic copyright framework, so that UK creative industries can earn a fair return on their huge investments creating original content.  Its a bit of a double standard.

But the thing i struggle to understand here, is how stronger copyrights will benefit these people.  How will censorship of the internet and litigation benefit these people.

Will it stop piracy?  Will it even reduce piracy?  I don’t think so.

Dear Prime Minister,

As the world’s focus turns to the UK this summer, there is an opportunity to stimulate growth in sectors where the UK has a competitive edge. Our creative industries represent one such sector, which creates jobs at twice the speed of the rest of the economy.

Britain’s share of the global music market is higher than ever with UK artists, led by Adele, breaking through to global stardom. As a digitally advanced nation whose language is spoken around the world, the UK is well positioned to increase its exports in the digital age. Competition in the creative sector is in talent and innovation, not labour costs or raw materials.

We can realise this potential only if we have a strong domestic copyright framework, so that UK creative industries can earn a fair return on their huge investments creating original content. Illegal activity online must be pushed to the margins. This will benefit consumers, giving confidence they are buying safely online from legal websites.

The simplest way to ensure this would be to implement swiftly the long overdue measures in the Digital Economy Act 2010; and to ensure broadband providers, search engines and online advertisers play their part in protecting consumers and creators from illegal sites.

We are proud of our cultural heritage and believe that we and our sector can play a much bigger role in supporting UK growth. To continue to create world beating creative content, we need a little bit of help from our friends.

Yours sincerely,

Simon Cowell
Roger Daltrey CBE
Professor Green
Sir Elton John CBE
The Lord Lloyd Webber
Dr Brian May CBE
Robert Plant
Roger Taylor
Tinie Tempah
Pete Townshend

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