Artist: Shaw/Blades
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2007
When Jack Blades and Tommy Shaw join forces, it’s no joke anymore. The two once sat side by side in the school benches of Damn Yankees, then went on to even more successful musical careers, Shaw in Styx, Blades in Night Ranger, and since Ted Nugent forgot about Damn Yankees ages ago and has been raking in fabulous sums with his solo career, which only pushes any chance of Nugnet, Shaw and Blades ever playing together again as Damn Yankees further out of reach, “Influence” is an album that offers at least a tiny bandage for all the Damn Yankees fans, even if the whole thing has practically nothing to do with Damn Yankees.
Before we dig into “Influence,” here are a few interesting facts showing that it’s not exactly smart to mess with these two guys (as the saying goes, you don’t want to eat cherries with them). Together they’ve sold over 50 million albums (counting all three bands, Damn Yankees, Styx and Night Ranger, together).
It’s been a hefty twelve years since the fully self-written Shaw / Blades debut “Hallucination” (1995), which was recently reissued, and finally there’s a new bone to chew on.
This time around, Shaw and Blades joined forces to present a dozen covers of renowned songwriters, great songwriters and performers who, as the two themselves put it, had a groundbreaking influence on shaping them into what they are (musically speaking) as artists today. In short, “Influence” captures a slice of music history that served as a huge inspiration and a guiding star for them over their many years of creating and their successful musical careers.
For the occasion, the two picked musically wildly diverse material and flipped it into their own rock sensibility. The two musicians contributed all the vocals entirely themselves and played practically all the instruments, with only drums and keyboards needing to be added by others at certain points.
“Influence” is not a pure-blooded translation into AOR or melodic hard rock, even though their signature touch and pulse are with us throughout. No. It’s much more organic, carrying a natural, live sound, and the two cleverly build the picture of “Influence” largely on acoustic guitars. Of course, they knew how to ideally weave their mastery from their home bands Night Ranger and Styx into the new versions of the originals. Vocal multi-harmonies are really an ingredient that must never be missing from the whole recipe, and Shaw and Blades are keenly aware of it (Lucky Man, orig. ELP). They also paid special attention to trading off the lead vocal roles. A typical example of this kind of ideal balance is the cover of Your Move (orig. Yes), which only confirms, if we glance backward for a moment, how AOR was invented. Progressive rockers wanted to sound commercial, and so one of the more intelligent commercial branches of eighties rock was born – AOR rock. Shaw and Blades, who contributed enormously to this genre, prove on “Influence” that they definitely haven’t forgotten how to serve up the masterpieces of the great Yes. The legacy of Simon And Garfunkel in Sound Of Silence also suits them down to the ground, and on “Influence” the one that stands out above it is the AOR-rocker-style, bristling version of the Simon & Garfunkel classic I Am A Rock. That track is one of the finest and most direct proofs of the two men’s refined feel for transforming the original versions and adding an AOR flavor to songs in their new guises. There are also some seriously witty takes on originals by The Mamas And The Papas (California Dreamin’), Buffalo Springfield (For What It’s Worth) and Steely Dan (Dirty Work), which are by no means inferior to the ones mentioned.
Along with the variety of this album, which really pays off with top-notch reworkings of classics, the listener can also travel chronologically through the era of music that laid the foundations of today’s rock.
“Influence” is thus direct proof of the extraordinary symbiosis between Shaw and Blades! Picture two people who understand each other so well that they finish each other’s sentences in their dialogue before either one manages to get a sentence out. Put plainly, they can read each other’s minds. “Influence” is a true Shaw / Blades album, even without original material, but they managed to dress the material that has inspired them for three decades in a suit that only those two can tailor. In a masterful and witty way.
Lineup
Jack Blades – vocals, bass guitar, acoustic guitar, percussion
Tommy Shaw – vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, percussion
Michael Lardie – keyboards
Colin Blades – backing vocals
Randy Mitchell – samples
Brian Tichy – drums
Kelly Keagy – drums
Production
Jack Blades & Tommy Shaw
Track list
1. Summer Breeze
2. Time Of The Season
3. Your Move
4. I Am A Rock
5. Lucky Man
6. Sounds Of Silence
7. California Dreamin’
8. On A Carousel
9. Dirty Work
10. For What It’s Worth
11. Dance With Me
Album length: 39.03
