BURNING RAIN
Epic Obsession + Reissues
Frontiers Records
Doug Aldrich hasn’t half been round the block. Of course, he’s known mainly for his time with Dio and current employers Whitesnake, but he’d been recording for years before all that. I first encountered him when he was in Lion, along with former NWOBHM legend Kal Swan (formerly of Tytan). They were probably best known for performing the theme song from the 1986 animated movie “Transformers: The Movie”, but they were a fine band. Swan and Aldrich went on to “big in Japan” status with Bad Moon Rising, but whereas Norman ‘Kal’ Swan has disappeared without trace into the world of commercial voiceovers in LA, Aldrich went on to form Burning Rain. They put out two albums before Aldrich went on to fame and fortune with Dio and Whitesnake, but now he’s went back, after 13 years, to make a new Burning Rain album.
Burning Rain was basically Doug Aldrich and vocalist Keith St John. Their debut album was a very enjoyable piece of melodic rock that probably came out a few years too late. It was full of great performances and songs, with the likes of ‘Smooth Locomotion’ and ‘Cherry Grove’ absolute delights. The follow up, “Pleasure To Burn” was even better. ‘Judgement Day’, ‘Fireball’ and ‘Stone Cold’ are as good a set of songs as you’re likely to hear within the genre. But they did nothing sales-wise and a boy has to eat, so it was off to Dio for Doug.
Buy Burning Rain / Pleasure To Burn
The reissues are a real treat, and both come complete with bonus tracks.
This third album has been on the backburner for a few years now, but with Keith St John still in fine voice, and an excellent set of melodic rock songs on offer, it’s almost as though no time has passed at all. There is a new rhythm section in tow, with Sean McNabb (Dokken, Quiet Riot) on bass, and a few different drummers (Matt Starr from Ace Frehley, Briian Tichy ex Whitesnake and Jimmy D’Anda ex Bullet Boys). Ignore the dodgy cover, because some of the songs are absolute stormers, with ‘Till You Die’, ‘Heaven Gets Me By’ and ‘Our Time Is Gonna Come’ the early highlights for me. There are a couple of bonus tracks as well, with the Burning Rain version of Kashmir’ and an acoustic version of ‘Heaven Gets Me By’. Highly recommended.
The Rocker - The Artist Formerly Known As Zeitgeist. TAFKAZ 
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