Man In Motion

[TageRyche]

I wrote my latest Cassette Chronicles article on the band's 1988 album Man In Motion.

[BBKlima]

Interesting take. I found a few things interesting in your review:

1) That you were a fan for Midnight Madness and 7 Wishes, but not later. I think this was Night Ranger's problem in the late 80s. For whatever reason many of their "fans" moved on. Maybe it was Guns N Roses? Maybe it was that you had either be full out pop or full out metal, and their blend of the two didn't find an audience. I've never really been sure, but both Big Life and Man In Motion were awesome releases by a very talented band.

2) You hardly even mention Don't Start Thinking I'm Alone Tonight, which is my favorite track off the album. Reminds me a lot of Whey You Close Your Eyes.

3) A couple of asides. Man In Motion was originally Mad Emotion, but the band thought Kelly sounded like he was sing man in motion so they changed it. I still hear him saying Mad Emotion though. Also, the song I DId It For Love was not written by the band. The label insisted they record it as the first single. The band decided to make it as heavy as they could and when the record label heard the finished product they were so peeved they pulled all marketing for the album.

I've loved that album for 29 years.

[Abitaman]

Man in Motion is not a good Night Ranger release in my opinion. I ma not saying it is a bad cd, just not near the top of their stuff. Hole in the Sun the bands worst cd, by any standards, is below MiM. So MIM is next to last, but there is a big difference in between them.

Man in Motion has some good songs, but some that just doesn't gel. The production to me, while nice and clear, lack punch for the harder songs. While the band plays good and sounds good, the songs and playing seem uninspired, but this could be due to the production.

MIM I would give a C+
HITS (Hole in the Sun, not hits, which it is NOT) a D

[TageRyche]

Thank you both for the feedback.

[JohnH]

Man just goes to show opinions can vary. Hole in The Sun is one of their best albums if you ask me.

[Journey/Survivor]

Man in Motion is not a good Night Ranger release in my opinion.

Man In Motion is my favorite Night Ranger album.

[Journey/Survivor]

Interesting take. I found a few things interesting in your review:

1) That you were a fan for Midnight Madness and 7 Wishes, but not later. I think this was Night Ranger's problem in the late 80s. For whatever reason many of their "fans" moved on. Maybe it was Guns N Roses? Maybe it was that you had either be full out pop or full out metal, and their blend of the two didn't find an audience. I've never really been sure, but both Big Life and Man In Motion were awesome releases by a very talented band.

2) You hardly even mention Don't Start Thinking I'm Alone Tonight, which is my favorite track off the album. Reminds me a lot of Whey You Close Your Eyes.

3) A couple of asides. Man In Motion was originally Mad Emotion, but the band thought Kelly sounded like he was sing man in motion so they changed it. I still hear him saying Mad Emotion though. Also, the song I DId It For Love was not written by the band. The label insisted they record it as the first single. The band decided to make it as heavy as they could and when the record label heard the finished product they were so peeved they pulled all marketing for the album.

I've loved that album for 29 years.

As I just posted, MIM is my favorite Night Ranger album of all.

I always loved Night Ranger songs when I heard them on the radio, but it wasn't until the very late 80s or even 1990 or so that I started buying their albums. So I didn't fully discover Night Ranger's greatness as early on as I did with Survivor, Journey and Foreigner in the early 80s.

When I bought all of the 80s NR Cd's I loved all of them. I bought Feeding Off The Mojo as soon as it came out. I didn't love it as much as I did all of the 80s NR albums, but I still liked it a great deal.

I was however disappointed in Neverland and Seven. I really disliked how Jack Blades was changing his singing voice to a more country type of style, and I just think that a lot of the "magic" was gone compared to all of the NR albums that came before them. I still like Neverland and Seven. Just nowhere nearly as well as the others before them. I also have the New York Time EP/compilation.

I have not bought any of Night Ranger's albums since then, however. Mainly because of being on an extremely tight budget, but also somewhat because of my disappointment with Neverland and Seven.

Can anyone tell me how Night Ranger's albums since Neverland and Seven are? Are they anywhere nearly as good as the 1980s NR albums?

[BBKlima]

Interesting take. I found a few things interesting in your review:

1) That you were a fan for Midnight Madness and 7 Wishes, but not later. I think this was Night Ranger's problem in the late 80s. For whatever reason many of their "fans" moved on. Maybe it was Guns N Roses? Maybe it was that you had either be full out pop or full out metal, and their blend of the two didn't find an audience. I've never really been sure, but both Big Life and Man In Motion were awesome releases by a very talented band.

2) You hardly even mention Don't Start Thinking I'm Alone Tonight, which is my favorite track off the album. Reminds me a lot of Whey You Close Your Eyes.

3) A couple of asides. Man In Motion was originally Mad Emotion, but the band thought Kelly sounded like he was sing man in motion so they changed it. I still hear him saying Mad Emotion though. Also, the song I DId It For Love was not written by the band. The label insisted they record it as the first single. The band decided to make it as heavy as they could and when the record label heard the finished product they were so peeved they pulled all marketing for the album.

I've loved that album for 29 years.

As I just posted, MIM is my favorite Night Ranger album of all.

I always loved Night Ranger songs when I heard them on the radio, but it wasn't until the very late 80s or even 1990 or so that I started buying their albums. So I didn't fully discover Night Ranger's greatness as early on as I did with Survivor, Journey and Foreigner in the early 80s.

When I bought all of the 80s NR Cd's I loved all of them. I bought Feeding Off The Mojo as soon as it came out. I didn't love it as much as I did all of the 80s NR albums, but I still liked it a great deal.

I was however disappointed in Neverland and Seven. I really disliked how Jack Blades was changing his singing voice to a more country type of style, and I just think that a lot of the "magic" was gone compared to all of the NR albums that came before them. I still like Neverland and Seven. Just nowhere nearly as well as the others before them. I also have the New York Time EP/compilation.

I have not bought any of Night Ranger's albums since then, however. Mainly because of being on an extremely tight budget, but also somewhat because of my disappointment with Neverland and Seven.

Can anyone tell me how Night Ranger's albums since Neverland and Seven are? Are they anywhere nearly as good as the 1980s NR albums?

Dude....if you are a fan of the band that you are missing out.

Hole In The Sun 2007/2008
Somewhere In California 2011
High Road 2014
Don't Let Up 2017

I think you would be pleasantly surprised with Jack's vocals on all four of those releases. Gone is the southern twang/talk singing he did on some songs on Neverland and Seven. (Granted, I am a diehard NR fan so take everything I say with a grain of salt, but I know what you are talking about.) I think a lot of the singing style he employed on Neverland and Seven was heavily influenced by the Shaw Blades album Hallucination. That was where I believe that originated. A friend of mine said he sounded like Tom Petty on the Shaw Blades record, and I can hear it.

But HITS, SIC, HR, and DLP rock, and Jack's previous singing style is back, for the most part. I do not think you will be disappointed (other than in the absence of Fitz and Jeff Watson).

There are pretty extensive write-ups by myself and others on this forum related to those albums.

[TageRyche]

I loved High Road.

[Journey/Survivor]

Interesting take. I found a few things interesting in your review:

1) That you were a fan for Midnight Madness and 7 Wishes, but not later. I think this was Night Ranger's problem in the late 80s. For whatever reason many of their "fans" moved on. Maybe it was Guns N Roses? Maybe it was that you had either be full out pop or full out metal, and their blend of the two didn't find an audience. I've never really been sure, but both Big Life and Man In Motion were awesome releases by a very talented band.

2) You hardly even mention Don't Start Thinking I'm Alone Tonight, which is my favorite track off the album. Reminds me a lot of Whey You Close Your Eyes.

3) A couple of asides. Man In Motion was originally Mad Emotion, but the band thought Kelly sounded like he was sing man in motion so they changed it. I still hear him saying Mad Emotion though. Also, the song I DId It For Love was not written by the band. The label insisted they record it as the first single. The band decided to make it as heavy as they could and when the record label heard the finished product they were so peeved they pulled all marketing for the album.

I've loved that album for 29 years.

As I just posted, MIM is my favorite Night Ranger album of all.

I always loved Night Ranger songs when I heard them on the radio, but it wasn't until the very late 80s or even 1990 or so that I started buying their albums. So I didn't fully discover Night Ranger's greatness as early on as I did with Survivor, Journey and Foreigner in the early 80s.

When I bought all of the 80s NR Cd's I loved all of them. I bought Feeding Off The Mojo as soon as it came out. I didn't love it as much as I did all of the 80s NR albums, but I still liked it a great deal.

I was however disappointed in Neverland and Seven. I really disliked how Jack Blades was changing his singing voice to a more country type of style, and I just think that a lot of the "magic" was gone compared to all of the NR albums that came before them. I still like Neverland and Seven. Just nowhere nearly as well as the others before them. I also have the New York Time EP/compilation.

I have not bought any of Night Ranger's albums since then, however. Mainly because of being on an extremely tight budget, but also somewhat because of my disappointment with Neverland and Seven.

Can anyone tell me how Night Ranger's albums since Neverland and Seven are? Are they anywhere nearly as good as the 1980s NR albums?

Dude....if you are a fan of the band that you are missing out.

Hole In The Sun 2007/2008
Somewhere In California 2011
High Road 2014
Don't Let Up 2017

I think you would be pleasantly surprised with Jack's vocals on all four of those releases. Gone is the southern twang/talk singing he did on some songs on Neverland and Seven. (Granted, I am a diehard NR fan so take everything I say with a grain of salt, but I know what you are talking about.) I think a lot of the singing style he employed on Neverland and Seven was heavily influenced by the Shaw Blades album Hallucination. That was where I believe that originated. A friend of mine said he sounded like Tom Petty on the Shaw Blades record, and I can hear it.

But HITS, SIC, HR, and DLP rock, and Jack's previous singing style is back, for the most part. I do not think you will be disappointed (other than in the absence of Fitz and Jeff Watson).

There are pretty extensive write-ups by myself and others on this forum related to those albums.

Thanks for the response/info!

Yeah, it was the Shaw Blades album that I first noticed Blades singing with that twang, and then he carried it over into some of the songs on Neverland and Seven.

I mostly don't have the post-Seven CD's because of a severe lack of money to buy them.

I will try to get them if/when I ever have the money.

As much of a fan as I am of Brad Gillis' guitar playing, and I do love it, I'm an even bigger Jeff Watson fan. So it does suck that Jeff's not in NR anymore. Fitz is great too, so again, it sucks that he's not in NR anymore too.

[BBKlima]

Completely with you on Jeff. Miss him immensely. Joel and Keri are great players in their own right, but man do I miss the chemistry between Brad and Jeff. Individually there have always been better guitarist than either of them, but combined I cannot think of two better duos.

[Journey/Survivor]

Completely with you on Jeff. Miss him immensely. Joel and Keri are great players in their own right, but man do I miss the chemistry between Brad and Jeff. Individually there have always been better guitarist than either of them, but combined I cannot think of two better duos.

Yeah, other than Neal Schon and Carlos Santana, who were only in the same band together for a relatively short time period, Jeff and Brad are my favorite guitar duo ever.

[BBKlima]

By the way, Keith Olsen, who just passed away, was the producer on MiM. RIP