Revisiting 1989's Blue Murder

[joey78]

The first Blue Murder record is one of the best hard rock albums ever.

the songs are great, musicianship is too-notch

I see a lot of negative comments, but if you look at the votes, clearly a lot of people like this record.

[pieceofme]

masterpiece

Let's not get carried away.

The first Blue Murder record is one of the best hard rock albums ever.

the songs are great, musicianship is too-notch

I see a lot of negative comments, but if you look at the votes, clearly a lot of people like this record.

Hardly the biggest and best sample size.

Yeah, it has fans on sludge. Most releases from that era do on here. Hardly a glowing endorsement.

[DangerZone]

masterpiece

Let's not get carried away.

The first Blue Murder record is one of the best hard rock albums ever.

the songs are great, musicianship is too-notch

I see a lot of negative comments, but if you look at the votes, clearly a lot of people like this record.

Hardly the biggest and best sample size.

Yeah, it has fans on sludge. Most releases from that era do on here. Hardly a glowing endorsement.

There’s also a big difference between liking something and thinking it’s one of the best records of all time

[Black Stuff]

Call me crazy, but there are times in Jelly Roll where Sykes singing sounds like Jani Lane. Havent listened to this album in a while. Def a try at a supergroup. Good stuff but no real single for US. Prob did better in Europe

[Bono Nettencourt]

Here’s an interesting live performance on the Weird Al show:

https://youtu.be/npoUI1obH_M?si=prQ3VuyW8CgIV6oC

That's a great clip. Best track on the album IMO.

[JizzySynatra]

First one had some real highlights like Ptolemy, Riot, and Black Hearted Woman. Hasn't been mentioned on this thread, but Black Hearted Woman is the definitely the most Whitesnake sounding track on the album and would have fit perfectly on 87'. That aside, Carmine's playing just doesn't fit most of the time and it's hard to explain until you hear the album and neither does the fretless bass. Sometimes Franklin adds something cool to a track, but on others it's a distraction. John really should have kept Ray Gillen for this album. The unreleased track with Ray is a glimpse of what the album could have been https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY8253E ... uyhoffmann. It's a good record, but definitely not what Geffen was looking for and was a complete flop coming off the hype of 87'. The second album is completely forgettable. Sykes 20th Century is probably the best record he made after 87', but the production is terrible.

[DangerZone]

First one had some real highlights like Ptolemy, Riot, and Black Hearted Woman. Hasn't been mentioned on this thread, but Black Hearted Woman is the definitely the most Whitesnake sounding track on the album and would have fit perfectly on 87'. That aside, Carmine's playing just doesn't fit most of the time and it's hard to explain until you hear the album and neither does the fretless bass. Sometimes Franklin adds something cool to a track, but on others it's a distraction. John really should have kept Ray Gillen for this album. The unreleased track with Ray is a glimpse of what the album could have been https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY8253E ... uyhoffmann. It's a good record, but definitely not what Geffen was looking for and was a complete flop coming off the hype of 87'. The second album is completely forgettable. Sykes 20th Century is probably the best record he made after 87', but the production is terrible.

is that song on vinyl anywhere?

[JizzySynatra]

First one had some real highlights like Ptolemy, Riot, and Black Hearted Woman. Hasn't been mentioned on this thread, but Black Hearted Woman is the definitely the most Whitesnake sounding track on the album and would have fit perfectly on 87'. That aside, Carmine's playing just doesn't fit most of the time and it's hard to explain until you hear the album and neither does the fretless bass. Sometimes Franklin adds something cool to a track, but on others it's a distraction. John really should have kept Ray Gillen for this album. The unreleased track with Ray is a glimpse of what the album could have been https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY8253E ... uyhoffmann. It's a good record, but definitely not what Geffen was looking for and was a complete flop coming off the hype of 87'. The second album is completely forgettable. Sykes 20th Century is probably the best record he made after 87', but the production is terrible.

is that song on vinyl anywhere?

The Ray track? Very unlikely. It was posted on YouTube by Sykes like 15 years ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RBDSWo ... =JohnSykes and it's the only demo found of that lineup. Would be great if more tracks exist, but Tony Frankin has stated that it was the only demo recorded by that lineup https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbEgK_j ... ullinbloom

[alleyrulez]

The first Blue Murder record is one of the best hard rock albums ever.

the songs are great, musicianship is too-notch

I see a lot of negative comments, but if you look at the votes, clearly a lot of people like this record.

exactly.

"Jelly Roll" is catchy as fuck.

contrary to what the OP says, the riff in "Ptolemy" is GLORIOUS.

I enjoyed the follow-up quite a bit as well

[FreddyFender]

First one had some real highlights like Ptolemy, Riot, and Black Hearted Woman. Hasn't been mentioned on this thread, but Black Hearted Woman is the definitely the most Whitesnake sounding track on the album and would have fit perfectly on 87'. That aside, Carmine's playing just doesn't fit most of the time and it's hard to explain until you hear the album and neither does the fretless bass. Sometimes Franklin adds something cool to a track, but on others it's a distraction. John really should have kept Ray Gillen for this album. The unreleased track with Ray is a glimpse of what the album could have been https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY8253E ... uyhoffmann. It's a good record, but definitely not what Geffen was looking for and was a complete flop coming off the hype of 87'. The second album is completely forgettable. Sykes 20th Century is probably the best record he made after 87', but the production is terrible.

Holy Shit!

I've never heard this. Ray sounds great, and (surprise surprise) the song has a hook! Man, firing Gillin was the second worst decision Sykes ever made.

The ironic thing is that the band sounds great OUTSIDE of Franklin, who is unsurprisingly overplaying and as another posted said the fretless gimmick is an unwelcome distraction, but Franklin was the only guy who was kept for the album.

Sykes/Gillin/Powell/Any Other Bass Player would have delivered a platinum record. Damn shame.

[Earl Skakel]

4. Jelly Roll. If Coverdale had sang this, it would have been better than most of what was on SOTT. Sykes can technically sing but his voice doesn't have enough personality. Chorus doesn't really feel like a chorus. The song is almost over when it gets to the "love can break your heart" part, which is way more chorus-y. And again, the bass player should have been fired for overplaying all over the place.... what the fuck is he doing during the bridge??? Can't believe Bob Rock of all people didn't say "play a p-bass with frets on it and play the fucking root note when the singer is singing."

What is SOTT?

[DangerZone]

4. Jelly Roll. If Coverdale had sang this, it would have been better than most of what was on SOTT. Sykes can technically sing but his voice doesn't have enough personality. Chorus doesn't really feel like a chorus. The song is almost over when it gets to the "love can break your heart" part, which is way more chorus-y. And again, the bass player should have been fired for overplaying all over the place.... what the fuck is he doing during the bridge??? Can't believe Bob Rock of all people didn't say "play a p-bass with frets on it and play the fucking root note when the singer is singing."

What is SOTT?

Dave & Sykes split ways after the 87 album.
Sykes put out ‘blue murder’ & Coverdale put out……

Slip Of The Tongue

[Earl Skakel]

4. Jelly Roll. If Coverdale had sang this, it would have been better than most of what was on SOTT. Sykes can technically sing but his voice doesn't have enough personality. Chorus doesn't really feel like a chorus. The song is almost over when it gets to the "love can break your heart" part, which is way more chorus-y. And again, the bass player should have been fired for overplaying all over the place.... what the fuck is he doing during the bridge??? Can't believe Bob Rock of all people didn't say "play a p-bass with frets on it and play the fucking root note when the singer is singing."

What is SOTT?

Dave & Sykes split ways after the 87 album.
Sykes put out ‘blue murder’ & Coverdale put out……

Slip Of The Tongue

Thanks very much, my ADD was kicking in.

[alleyrulez]

Funny bit from Ron Young from Little Caesar about Blue Murder: told Kalodner they were a flop, right in front of Geffen execs.

We were getting ready to go up to work with Bob Rock [in Vancouver] when John Kalodner and Bob got into a fight over Blue Murder. John wanted Bob to get back into the studio with them and we just sat around with our thumbs up our asses when that got resolved. There were all of these spats and fights that delayed things… Jimmy Iovine felt that if we had John Kalodner onboard working on the project we’d improve our powerbase at the label. John started to stick his two cents in and things just went “downhill.” I clearly remember walking down the hallways of the Geffen Records offices and he was having a little listening session in his office for the first Blue Murder single. So he pulls me in there and he has all the label guys in there and they’re all bobbing their heads, the song ends and they’re all like “Oh, it sounds amazing” and this and that. Then he asks me what I think. I said, “There’s no hook!” It was like I farted in church. [laughs] He looks at me as says; “What are you talking about?! Don’t you hear those drum sounds?!” I said, “Kids don’t buy drum sounds?! I don’t know what you guys think?! I mean it sounds good, but there’s no hook!” [laughs] It was from there forward that John was really angry at me. [laughs]

I asked Ron about this on Facebook, this was his response:

"I di not know him. My reference was about some production and business stuff but nothing about him personally. I only heard good things about him as a man and his playing certainly speaks to his talent."

[fret123]

masterpiece

Let's not get carried away.

The first Blue Murder record is one of the best hard rock albums ever.

the songs are great, musicianship is too-notch

I see a lot of negative comments, but if you look at the votes, clearly a lot of people like this record.

Hardly the biggest and best sample size.

Yeah, it has fans on sludge. Most releases from that era do on here. Hardly a glowing endorsement.

I thought it was a pretty solid album
for the time. In the late 80s major labels were signing every poofy haired band they could find to see what would stick. Most of it was godawful but Blue Murder, Kingdom Come and Badlands all had some good first albums. They had the image but the music was pretty retro hard rock blues. By the time they all put out their follow up albums, the scene was already starting to die out and I had completely lost interest. I couldn’t name a song or album title off of any of them.

[Bono Nettencourt]

Yeah WS '87 and Kingdome Clone were the beginning of the "Led Clones" trend; Badlands and Blue Murder were the tail end.

[alleyrulez]

Yeah WS '87 and Kingdome Clone were the beginning of the "Led Clones" trend; Badlands and Blue Murder were the tail end.

I never thought Badlands sounded anything like Zeppelin.

[Bono Nettencourt]

Yeah WS '87 and Kingdome Clone were the beginning of the "Led Clones" trend; Badlands and Blue Murder were the tail end.

I never thought Badlands sounded anything like Zeppelin.

No, not at all.

https://youtu.be/IepGiupfguM?si=ah8Bhzz7PFt3DSBB

[HueyRamone]

Yeah WS '87 and Kingdome Clone were the beginning of the "Led Clones" trend; Badlands and Blue Murder were the tail end.

I never thought Badlands sounded anything like Zeppelin.

No, not at all.

https://youtu.be/IepGiupfguM?si=ah8Bhzz7PFt3DSBB

burn.

[The Prez]

Here’s an interesting live performance on the Weird Al show:

https://youtu.be/npoUI1obH_M?si=prQ3VuyW8CgIV6oC

Seems like they're playing to a track there.

[DangerZone]

I never thought Badlands sounded anything like Zeppelin.

No, not at all.

https://youtu.be/IepGiupfguM?si=ah8Bhzz7PFt3DSBB

burn.

that’s obviously a rip off of megadeth “foreclosure of a dream” duh

[FreddyFender]

Yeah WS '87 and Kingdome Clone were the beginning of the "Led Clones" trend; Badlands and Blue Murder were the tail end.

I never thought Badlands sounded anything like Zeppelin.

No, not at all.

https://youtu.be/IepGiupfguM?si=ah8Bhzz7PFt3DSBB

Total Zeppelin rip, but the difference is.... this kicks ass.

[alleyrulez]

I never thought Badlands sounded anything like Zeppelin.

No, not at all.

https://youtu.be/IepGiupfguM?si=ah8Bhzz7PFt3DSBB

burn.

because they did ONE Zeppelin-esque (and just barely) track during their three album run, that makes them "Led Clones"?

again,

[Bono Nettencourt]

Here’s an interesting live performance on the Weird Al show:

https://youtu.be/npoUI1obH_M?si=prQ3VuyW8CgIV6oC

Seems like they're playing to a track there.

They kinda have to be, since there's keyboards... still good tho.

[HueyRamone]

Here’s an interesting live performance on the Weird Al show:

https://youtu.be/npoUI1obH_M?si=prQ3VuyW8CgIV6oC

Seems like they're playing to a track there.

They kinda have to be, since there's keyboards... still good tho.

blecch.

Also, I know the late 80s were a weird time for fashion, but Sykes looked so fucking cool in the Rock in Rio vid, and here he is, copying Paul Stanley's "X in Sex" look, looking like a total tool.

[Bono Nettencourt]

Gotta love Franklin's neon parachute pants too... straight from the Van Hagar collection.