Burning Rain — the union of well traveled guitarist Doug Aldrich (Whitesnake, Hurricane, Dio, House of Lords) and journeyman vocalist Keith St. John — always sounded like a band out of time. The quartet's first two sleazy, blues-inflected hard-rock albums were released in 1999 and 2000. Back then, the mainstream didn't care much about hard rock anymore, and with bands still finding their way to the Internet, Burning Rain and Pleasure to Burn didn't get the exposure they needed and failed to gain much traction.
But now, in conjunction with the release of the first new Burning Rain album in 13 years, Epic Obsession, Frontiers has remastered and reissued the first two long out-of-print albums and included two bonus tracks each. Accompanied by Ian Mayo on bass and Alex Makarovich on drums, Aldrich and St. John co-wrote all of the material. Flashes of Aldrich's future brilliance can be heard throughout the solos on both albums, and St. John proves why he's still on the scene today, going on to front Montrose and more recently Quiet Riot. The albums sound far from original and are practically interchangeable. But highlights include "Judgement Day" from Pleasure to Burn, which borrowed not only the title of one of Whitesnake's proggiest songs but some of the arrangements, too; and "Can't Turn Your Back on Love" (from the self-titled debut) and "Cherie Don't Break My Heart" (Pleasure to Burn) did their best to get the attention of turn-of-the-century radio programmers by going softer and more melodic.
Bonus tracks feature acoustic versions of three songs, plus the demo for non-album track "Live for That Rush." They provide added context for where Burning Rain was headed at the time. Listening to these two albums now is like unearthing a relic from the dark post-grunge days when no one seemed to know where the music industry (and bands like Burning Rain) were headed.
Track Listings:
Burning Rain
1) Smooth Locomotion
2) Superstar Train
3) Jungle Queen
4) Making My Heart Beat
5) Fool No More
6) Cherry Grove
7) Can't Cure the Fire
8) Can't Turn Your Back on Love
9) Heaven's Garden
10) Tokyo Rising
11) Seasons of Autumn
12) Smooth Locomotion (Acoustic Bonus Track)
13) Can't Turn Your Back on Love (Acoustic Bonus Track)
Pleasure to Burn
1) Fireball
2) Love Emotion
3) Stone Cold n' Crazy
4) Cherie Don't Break My Heart
5) Shot Down
6) Love de Jour (Gotta Get It On)
7) Faithfully Yours
8) Sex Machine
9) Metal Superman
10) Judgement Day
11) Devil Money
12) Live For that Rush (Demo) (Bonus Track)
13) Cherie Don't Break My Heart (Acoustic Bonus Track)
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