Badlands - A long, lost gem!

[edgeofthorns]

Judging from all of the positive responses on the Def Leppard thread, I'm assuming alot of you are like me, and still enjoy SOME 80's hard rock/metal. Well, a new discovery of mine is the band, Badlands. Have any of you heard of them, seen them live, have CD's of them, etc. I can't get enough of Ray Gillen's voice! IMHO he's one of the best lead vocalist of all time! The bad part is, their stuff is out of print! You have to buy it used for unreasonable prices. I don't understand why their stuff hasn't been re-released, because this band created some incredible music! If any of you feel like I do, rant away!

*Also, for you Savatage freaks out there like me, Ray Gillen sang background vocals on Strange Wings from Hall Of The Mountain King. It took me the longest to figure that out!

 

[Kenneth R.]

*Also, for you Savatage freaks out there like me, Ray Gillen sang background vocals on Strange Wings from Hall Of The Mountain King. It took me the longest to figure that out!

must find this now. especially because of the last paragraph.

 

[DarkOne]

"Sing me a sweet, sweet Song. Turn out the lights. And my love will burn on and On.
Hold me until tomorrow. Dreams in the dark"

!!!!

Steve in Philly

 

[TheWhisper]

I LOVE this kind of blues based R-n-R. Badlands rocked like a mother with Jake's playing and Ray's vocals. Ray Gillen is an fantastic singer. Winter's Call from the self titled debut is my fave song. Great, great blusey swamp rock n roll.

 

[TheWhisper]

"Sing me a sweet, sweet Song. Turn out the lights. And my love will burn on and On.
Hold me until tomorrow. Dreams in the dark"

!!!!

Steve in Philly

Fuck Yeah...

RIP Ray...

 

[JayKeeley]

Yep, JayKeeley rules.

 

[Dark One]

Yep, JayKeeley rules.

No no no, you don't know how to spell. It's Jake E. Lee that rules. JayKeeley is just some random ungerground webzine editor bloke who for some reason people are convinced is of African decent.

 

[Rezz]

Heck yea! I was lucky enough to see them live in Portland, Maine, back around '90. They were on tour with (if I remember correctly) Great White and Tesla. I was really into their first cd at the time so I really enjoyed their set. I have all three of their cds but the first one is my fav by far.

For those who care, Ray Gillen also sang on a cd called Sun Red Sun which you can generally get for a few bucks plus shipping on Ebay.

 

[woosta]

Hey, I have a copy of Badlands' "Voodoo Highway" for trade. I come with as many references as you need and I'll take any number of things you may want rid of. If you're interested, let me know and I'll give you my email!

Also, I'm pretty sure Gillen had a project called Sun Red Sun that was like a tribute to him after he died. Much heavier and much better than Badlands for me!

 

[steelreign]

One of my 80's favorites in terms of great songs and gritty heavy rock. I have Badlands, Voodoo Highway and Dusk, along with a couple live CD's of theirs. Awesome stuff....

On a related note, I see that Jake is currently recording an album of 70's rock stuff that influenced him in his formative years. Should be cool - anything is welcome from Jake!

 

[ashaman7122]

All the Badlands albums smoke...the self titled (with Eric Singer on drums); Voodoo Highway is such a southern-fried, smokin' blues classic (with new drummer Jeff Martin who totally smokes); hell even Dusk is worth the coin (if you can lay your hands on it). Between Ray's voice and Jake's leads...the albums just ooze class, style, and balls.

Ray also sings on the self-titled Sun Red Sun album (not to be confused with Sun Red Sun -- Lost Tracks or any other releases).

Also, one last shining moment by the man can be found on the song Flesh & Blood on George Lynch's Sacred Groove album (an awesome album in it's own right), along with killer instrumentals as well as appearances by Glenn Hughes, Mandy Lion, and the two fags from Nelson (who do an awesome job on an awesome song)...

It's just a shame that Jake has turned into such a hermit...don't know if it has to do with his blindness, his health, or just a disdain for the business, but he might be creeping out of the woodwork soon with a tribute album and covers CD in the works...

Rock on!

 

[lady_space]

I'm not nuts about Voodoo Highway, but Badlands is a hell of an album. Listening to it tripping one night, my ex and I came to the conclusion that Jake E. Lee was God. Jake and Ray certainly worked very well together.

Shaye

 

[adaher]

I keep hearing that John West was in Badlands at some point. Did he just tour with them, or did he actually record anything?

 

[booB]

The bad part is, their stuff is out of print! You have to buy it used for unreasonable prices.

I see their discs every now and then in used sections (it's impossible to find a new copy) for reasonable prices. The REALLY tough one to find is Dusk; I have it on CDR only.

Also.. I wouldn't even necessarily characterize them as "80's style rock"... to me, they're timeless.

 

[Wayniac]

That is some Kick ass stuff - Jake is a MONSTER on guitar, and Ray is one of my all-time favorite vocalists.
I got to meet Jake when he was on the Bark at the Moon tour - cool guy. Also met all of Badlands when they played Toads New Haven. Cool dudes
RAY: RIP

 

[Bryant]

Judging from all of the positive responses on the Def Leppard thread, I'm assuming alot of you are like me, and still enjoy SOME 80's hard rock/metal. !

Gillen had an awesome voice. He actually recorded a release with Black Sabbath, but it ended up being scratched in favor of Tony Martin, who recorded the vocal tracks for the eventual release. The guitarist of Badlands, Jake E. Lee was also quite accomplished. His work was unique and well written for the most part.
Since you like that style of music and I just mentioned Tony Martin, have you heard Misha Calvin's "Evolution I ?" It features Tony on most of the vocals with Ian Perry on the others. It eally sounds a bit like Whitesnake on steroids and has a definite 80's style, but the guitar and vocal performance is had to touch.



Bryant

 

[Bryant]

I LOVE this kind of blues based R-n-R. Badlands rocked like a mother with Jake's playing and Ray's vocals. Ray Gillen is an fantastic singer. Winter's Call from the self titled debut is my fave song. Great, great blusey swamp rock n roll.

"Winter's Call" is my fave as well. What a great song that is !!


Bryant

 

[edgeofthorns]

One of my 80's favorites in terms of great songs and gritty heavy rock. I have Badlands, Voodoo Highway and Dusk, along with a couple live CD's of theirs. Awesome stuff....

On a related note, I see that Jake is currently recording an album of 70's rock stuff that influenced him in his formative years. Should be cool - anything is welcome from Jake!

Yeah, I've heard about that too! They have a couple of sample clips on the Jake E. Lee fan site! On another note, I've read were Russell Allen says that Ray Gillen is one of his main influences. Hey, if Russell says it, it's got to be true!

 

[edgeofthorns]

I keep hearing that John West was in Badlands at some point. Did he just tour with them, or did he actually record anything?

Great question! John didn't ever record with them, but he toured with the band after Gillen and Lee had their falling out. Wouldn't you like to have seen West that?

 

[edgeofthorns]

The bad part is, their stuff is out of print! You have to buy it used for unreasonable prices.

I see their discs every now and then in used sections (it's impossible to find a new copy) for reasonable prices. The REALLY tough one to find is Dusk; I have it on CDR only.

Also.. I wouldn't even necessarily characterize them as "80's style rock"... to me, they're timeless.

Actually, both CD Inzane and Nightmare Records have Dusk to sell for a limited time only! I've recently bought one from Zane...he'll always take care of you!