Reviews

Available on import from Japan or from John's official website. Well, it is awesome. There is no real need to add more than that. But I will. This CD showcases John's talents supremely. The guitar sound on this record is so clear and "in your face" it is a joy to listen to. The rest of the band, that is Marco Mendoza, Tommy Aldridge and Derek Sherinian are tight as hell and compliment John's playing superbly. The tracklisting does not quite reflect the setlist from the Japan tour this CD is based on but it features songs from Blue Murder, Sykes and Whitesnake 1987 (Bad Boys, Crying in the Rain - with a breathtaking solo, Is this Love, and Still of the Night). Note to Mr Coverdale - the world doesn't need a Whitesnake live CD, we've got this one already and it will do us fine, ta very much. Please Don't Leave Me (co-written with Philip Lynott) also stands out - John sings and plays this with such emotion it is easy to see why he says Lynott is his hero. All in all, if you do not get hold of this CD somehow (it's not on sale in the UK unfortunately) you will really be missing something.

Available from John’s official website I waited a long time before buying this one, and all I can say about that is, what a mistake! I read some interview with John on the web where he talks about the record being influenced by Dr Dre and Eminem (stuff I don’t listen to – not saying it’s rubbish, just not my cup of tea), and I thought – what’s gone wrong? But it was me that was wrong. It would be boring to expect the same record from John everytime. If you want same old same old, go and listen to Status Quo. And again, there is a time and place for that too. It’s a shame that this record didn’t get much exposure, but then if he was more in the spotlight with his solo material John might not get away with taking risks like he did with ‘Nuclear Cowboy’. John does something brave here and brings his sound right up to date. But the guitars are still there in force. This is an aggressive record, and it’s heavy in more than one sense of that word. First of all, the use of drum loops and what for Sykes were unconventional song patterns makes his music sound more intense. Second, the subject matter of his lyrics is based on what I presume was some sort of rupture in his personal life, and following on from “20th Century” John is also still influenced by the dangers of the nuclear age. Meltdown is the order of the day! There are some unusual songs here (including John quasi-rapping for one thing) and it will require you to approach it with an open mind, but after a couple of listens you somehow know it still makes sense as a Sykes record. I am biased but there ya go, this is a fansite after all! Personal favourites are “Arc Angel”, “Degraded” (which has a kind of Philip Lynott vibe to it), and “Sick”. “I Wish it Would Rain” is the token ballad, but it’s immense. I have no idea what direction John will take for his next studio record, but I sure am looking forward to it!

Available from John’s official website OK, this is going to sound a bit hypocritical in view of what I say below about “Save My Love”, but I adore this CD. It’s a collection of ballads with quite spartan arrangements. Only occasionally does John let rip with an electric guitar solo. The point is that these songs were written as ballads and “Save my Love” was originally recorded as an electric number on the album “Nothin’ but trouble”: for me the song lost its soul on “Screaming Blue Murder”. Apparently John made this record after claiming that it was easy to write a ballad. To prove it he simply went and wrote 8 or 9 and re-recorded “Please Don’t Leave Me” for good measure. The CD is a contrast to his other music, but for me it compliments those other albums so well. A little light relief from the heavy stuff. Sure, it perhaps doesn’t represent him the best, and if this was your introduction to John Sykes you’d probably be thinking ‘what’s this Michael Bolton thing going on here?’ But the record has its own place, allowing him to give expression to his Beatles influence, something that I can’t say always shows through that clearly elsewhere. You’ve got some quite simple ditties here into which he’s somehow managed to weave heart-rending melodies. Plus you get “Please Don’t Leave Me” with Phil Lynott’s original vocal, which is a treat. That’s it really.

Available (sometimes) on eBay Yes, I’ve got a copy. It’s flippin’ hard to get hold of this CD. And if you’ll excuse the pun it’s quite untouchable as a live album. In fact, you wouldn’t think things could get any better until you listen to Bad Boy Live! However, the 2 albums do different things. BBL! has more recent Sykes stuff. On this one you get more Blue Murder material: “Riot”, “Billy”, “Cry for Love”, “Save My Love” etc., and the band (John, Marco Mendoza, Tommy O’Steen and Nik Green on keyboards) do a great job of reproducing live what was probably multi-layered studio sound. Also, it’s dedicated to Phil Lynott (Sykes is wearing a Lynott t-shirt in most of the pictures on the CD case). As were the first 2 Blue Murder records, of course, but here you get “Cold Sweat”, “Please Don’t Leave Me”, and “Dancin’ in the Moonlight” (a rather odd choice to end the record for me, unlike say “Still of the Night”). “Riot” and “Billy” are beyond brilliant, and the intro to “Jelly Roll” is very likeable. The laid-back re-arrangement of “Save my Love” doesn’t do it for me, I’m afraid. I’ve tried to like it, but I don’t think unplugged wimp-outs are John Sykes’s style, even if it is one for the laydeez! It can’t be said often enough how impressive it is how John managed to master singing AND playing “Still of the Night” well enough to make you forget about Coverdale. Of course, DC has a fantastic voice, and I would have loved the chance to see the two of them play the song together. On this evidence though, I have to say there just isn’t the need for it.

A funny one this. Released without much fanfare in 2001 on a small, Newcastle-based record label, which now exists under a different name but whose MD is the band's original singer Jess Cox, this live in concert CD documents a 1981 gig by the Whitley Bay heavy metal outfit, who, if sources close the band are to be believed, were all, bar John Sykes, ill on the night in question. Well, if this was an "off-day", then I sure would have liked to have been around when the band thought they were hitting top form, because to my ears, this is excellent stuff, and one of the best live CDs featuring John Sykes that is available. The album's brilliant sound quality is down to the remastering skills of Sykes's replacement in the Tygers, Fred Purser - another irony which adds to the CD's quirky appeal.

Review of Blue Murder (first published in BreakOut - German hard rock magazine, June 1989 [translated by Simon](C)BreakOut 1989) This is an excellent debut album, overflowing with energy, with opener "Riot" setting the tone immediately with its explosive drums and searing guitar. Its obvious straightaway that John Sykes's voice hits the spot even if he does occasionally copy his erstwhile teacher: "Sex Child" (probably a leftover from Coverdale times) has silly lyrics and a Whitesnake-style middle section. The first highpoint, "Valley of the Kings" recalls the Dio-era Rainbow with its lyrics and music, although it is a bit too long. "Jelly Roll" evokes Whitesnake's "Child of Babylon" and would have been quite interesting if the boring chorus didn't spoil things at the end. The first out and out rock track is the title track which has a scintillating guitar solo. "Out of Love" is a nice ballad which is bound to melt the hearts of female fans. The last three numbers: "Billy" (a slightly weak composition, despite the sad lyric about a suspected gangster who is shot while on the run), the heavy "Ptolemy" and "Black Heated Women" [sic - ooerr, accident in the kitchen, love?!], evoke the golden age of British Metal. Despite a few weaknesses, this album is a convincing success. For guitar fetishists it is indispensable. Whoever loves their heavy rock straight will adore it.

JOHN SYKES finds himself in an unusual position right now — the focus of a great deal of public attention, with the Blue Murder debut heavily anticipated, and yet he has secured the attention by virtue of a half-done job. Who knows when — or even if — Blue Murder would have appeared if Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale hadn't fired Sykes as the guitarist put the finishing touches to the hugely successful "Snake renaissance album ('Whitesnake '87')? He never got the chance to tour with the record and share in the spotlight, but such was its success that he did at least get the credit he deserved, hence all the interest in what he's up to now. But to get a better perspective on Blue Murder's debut we have to remember that Sykes has done a whole lot more in the past beyond boosting Coverdale's career into overdrive. He was also the man who stopped the Tygers Of Pan Tang sounding silly, and later he featured alongside fellow guitarist Scott Gorham in the last, revitalised incarnation of Thin Lizzy, never really securing all the credit he merited for his work there. Now, in writing his debut album, Sykes has done far more than trying to complete another version of the Whitesnake album — as weaker souls might well have done — drawing instead on all of his experience to craft one of the finest records in an age. Blue Murder's fundamental shtick is Blues — heavy, heavy duty Blues as wielded by Led Zeppelin at their electric, bombastic best. And speaking of bombast, add a heavy taste of 'Rainbow Rising' to the witches brew .. . and realise along the way that you're placing Sykes in the company of Jimmy Page and Ritchie Blackmore. No mean compliment and one which he earns with aplomb, never letting up for the substantial 53-minute duration of this album. He riffs with massive authority and solos with equal dexterity and taste, and it won't be long before the cognoscenti aren't the only ones hailing the man's ability. He's found outstanding compatriots too in drummer Carmine Appice and bassist Tony Franklin; the latter's fretless playing is nothing short of remarkable, while Appice contributes a monstrous-sounding drive to the material in tune with its epic overtones. At times so brutally powerful that headphones are a dangerous proposition, this album is utterly overwhelming; special praise must certainly go to producer Bob Rock for the way he has captured Blue Murder in all their majesty. You know it's got you right from the start as a slowly escalating synth line confirms that there's going to be melody as well as muscle, before Franklin adds more tonal colour as a prelude to 'Riot' ripping your face off, an opening statement of Blues-Metal intent which might make you think of a supercharged Climax Blues Band if you're old enough (oops, what a giveaway!) with more than a hint of the funk that flavoured 'Hot Wire'-era Trapeze too. Don't be scared off by that nasty word 'Blues', either; it may be what makes Sykes utter the immortal words 'mean mistreatin' mama' (yes, really!), but it signifies good stuff too. We're not talking traditional Blues here, neither is it the bastardised Blues-strewn Street-Metal Rock'N'Roll which characterises the current wave of LA signings — what it is, is what made Zeppelin great. Or to put it in simple terms for those with short memories or life spans thus far, it's what made Whitesnake's'Still Of The Night' such a fine tune. In fact, the epic intensity of 'Still..." is the kick-off point for much of this album, most notably 'Valley Of The Kings', which is quite simply 'Still.. .'to the max. with overblown'Rainbow Rising' thrown in; outrageously enormous and utterly awesome. Almost equally intense are 'Ptolemy'in a similarly dark vein and in brighter colours 'Out Of Love', which is emphatically a ballad, but a heavy one indeed where Sykes absolutely shreds. Even at its 'lightest', the album bulges with muscle — but never at the expense of melody, which means there are some surprisingly commercial hooks nestling in the likes of 'Black Hearted Woman' and 'Blue Murder' itself; there's also some innovative turns in the arrangements which serve to keep your ears perked, so check out 'Jelly Roll' (okay, it could have come off Side Two of 'LZ III' so it's not totally new) or the vaguely Lizzy-like 'Billy' with its rippling, pulsating rhythm backbone. The hook here's a real winner too, and the song might be worth saving for just the right moment to yield a hit. Y'know, don't waste it as the first single guys! Okay, I've kept you in suspense long enough — alongside his guitar work, Sykes makes a real good job of the vocals. Nobody's going to accuse him of being the next Coverdale, and recording techniques have certainly helped him handle the difficult job of meeting the instrumental onslaught head on; but he'll have the same sort of technology onstage, so who's to worry? His voice is basically strong and clean, a shade reminiscent of former Triumph guitarist/vocalist Rik Emmett without the castrate overtones — hell, nobody accuses Emmett of being inadequate, so let's not worry about Sykes, okay? Maybe the album could have sounded better with a truly awesome singer, but at the high level the material reaches, 'better' is a pretty marginal affair. The last time I was this sure about a record was a long while back — 1985 actually, and there were three: Night Ranger, Heart and Mr Mister. Two of them hit the US Number One spot and all three made the Top Ten; at the very least Blue Murder is going to equal the 'failure' amongst that trio.

Slide It In was the Whitesnake album that marks the beginning of the second era of the band. Indeed many, particularly Stateside, see Slide It In as Whitesnake’s first-ever record (not due to ignorance but because the band really made no impact on the US with its early incarnations). While their early albums contain many great songs (Ready an’ Willing, Walking in the Shadow of the Blues, Come an’ Get It, Ain’t no Love in the Heart of the City, Here I Go Again) I find it hard to listen to Whitesnake’s early output (apart from Live…In the Heart of the City, which is very good). For me the Micky Moody/Bernie Marsden guitar team is very weak: the production values on these records are extremely poor – the guitars sound tinny and the musical arrangements are plodding. Things changed to a certain degree in 1982 when Mel Galley joined the band in place of Marsden. Galley had previously been in Trapeze with Glenn Hughes, and he knew how to write a good song (Love ain’t no Stranger and Gambler, for example). Nevertheless for a while I disliked Slide It In (apart from finding the overtly sexual nature of the songs occasionally amusing). The UK version of the album just sounds so threadbare and that’s even with Cozy Powell on drums to drive things along. When John Sykes joined the band, and Neil Murray rejoined, Coverdale wanted them to re-do the guitar tracks for a US release of Slide It In. Murray replaced Colin Hodgkinson’s bass parts and John Sykes overdubbed some rhythm guitar tracks. However, there wasn’t enough time for him to replace any solos (as Coverdale wished). That is why the CD sounds like a hybrid of the two quite distinct eras of Whitesnake. Micky Moody’s slide guitar work remains on the record and in the background you can hear Sykes’s trademark guitar fills – he basically augments the existing rhythms while adding a few of his recogniseable squeals (even if they are a bit quiet). The US version of Slide It In consequently sounds a lot slicker and powerful than the UK/Europe one (which I recommend you avoid), and hints at the more electric direction Whitesnake would take with John in charge of guitar duties. The running order is also different from the UK/Europe release, with the three most commercial tracks (Slide It In, Slow an’ Easy and Love ain’t no Stranger) kicking things off. This is a pity, as Gambler is a good opening number, as was demonstrated on Whitesnake’s 1984 European tour (albeit somewhat faster than it is on the record). But if you really want to hear what these songs sounded like with John’s playing, then I advise you to get hold of a bootleg recording from 1984-85.

This 2005 release pulls together tracks from various line-ups of ToPT, most of which had already been released on other collections. How do tracks from 1985's "The Wreck-Age" by the Jon Deverill-fronted Tygers, and the 1999 Wacken live tracks (both CDs are easy enough to come by) class as rare?! It is the demos from the Spellbound album sessions (recorded at Pity Me studios, just outside Durham) which really hold interest for Sykes fans: five tracks (Hellbound, Take It, The Story So Far, Don't Give a Damn, and Gangland) which had never seen the light of day until making it onto this compilation. Don't Give a Damn never made the album - it was the b-side for Hellbound and was included in the bonus tracks when Spellbound was re-released on CD in 1997 - and while the quality of these demo recordings (sonically fine) is not as good as the final versions these tracks are very interesting for Sykes fans because they represent his first ever recordings. They lack the production sheen of Chris Tsangarides, who twiddled the knobs on Spellbound, although I actually prefer the guitar solos on this version of Hellbound to those on the album where they are slightly hidden in the mix. To note: Robb Weir does the outro solo here - it's JS on the album version. Another thing I take away from these songs is how great Jon Deverill's voice was: whatever happened to him? All in all, a worthwhile addition to the collection of any Tygers fan, but it's not the kind of CD that you'd recommend to someone as an introduction to their music. I think, with all due respect, that the Tygers of Pan Tang of 1982-onwards had none of the bite of the Sykes version.