Fight For The Rock [CD]

I think that Fight for the Rock is a satisfying disc from Savatage. All ten of the tracks are listenable and energetic. The album is in a straightforward hard rock musical vein. The musicianship and songwriting are fulfilling. I admit that I've never been completely satisfied with the sound quality, though--the production emits quite a bit of bass. That aside, I don't find the sound quality to be totally terrible--it's all right. Jon Oliva does a good job with the vocals. He has a unique voice, and I've never heard another singer that resembles him. Criss Oliva does well with the guitar playing. This disc includes a couple of cover tunes: "Day After Day" from Badfinger and "Wishing Well" from Free. Keyboards are also used throughout the disc. Most of the songs are straight-ahead hard rockers, but there are some subtler ones, too ("Out on the Streets," "Day After Day," and "Crying for Love"). I consider the power ballad "Day After Day" to be my favorite song of the album. It's a really nice track. Jon Oliva especially does well with the vocals. The power ballad "Out on the Streets" is an updated version of the original song that's included on Savatage's first album Sirens. I think that both versions are worthwhile. "Crying for Love" is a tune that's a cross between a straightforward hard rocker and a power ballad--it's listenable and melodic. The gothic-flavored keyboard intro to "The Edge of Midnight" is interesting and cool. The heavy, energetic "Hyde" also features a foreboding beginning. "Red Light Paradise" is another aggressive one that contains an ominous intro. The CD insert includes the song lyrics and some photos of the band. The cover photo is interesting, too. Fight for the Rock is an enjoyable album from Savatage.

Savatage had put out three full blast metal attacks in a row in the form of Sirens, Power of the Night and The Dungeons Are Calling. After which they changed gears for this album which sees the band take a step back from the leather and spikes traditional metal fare of their previous offerings for a more acceptable commercially version of themselves. Not that this isn't quite obviously Savatage for anyone who knows them well but for a newcomer who had merely heard the name Savatage as an inside tip from some more established metalhead this album could perhaps be somewhat of a confusion and fans of this mob have often pointed to this album as somewhat of a blip in the bands catalogue.

Specifically the points to consider when viewing this album in relation to their other albums is that the lyrics were somewhat dumber. The change in style can be viewed in a number of manifestations. Firstly there are songs like the title track that despite the dumb title is pretty muscular really even if the lyrical bent is the sort of tosh that Euro bands and third tier 80's style Hollyrock bands have peddled relentlessly over the years, full of hollow sentiment about how ready to rock we all are and how you've gotta, well, Fight for the Rock. But all up, as I said, not a bad song musically and that carries the song a long way towards acceptance in a sort of numbskull way.

Other tunes on the album are more infested with the softer play for cash sentiments of much of this release such as Crying for Love although that's not to deny the guilty pleasure that a number of these tunes can elicit in the listener as the band are not wholly submerged into a candy coated version of 80's metal, the bands utterly metallic nature proving too strong to be totally watered down and thus we get a number of good riffs and melodies.

To be fair, some of the way this album has come to be viewed by the bands fanbase is to a certain extent unfair given it at least shows the band willing to stretch out and become more open to the use of slower structures that allow their songs to breath more. And it has to be said this expanded use of dynamics did pay dividends for the band on later releases. The simple fact is that this band had the talent to address a number of hard rock and metal styles - in fact also styles way outside of the hard rock universe, but here the transition is just too abrupt, the use of cheesy mid 80's keyboards/organs and other studio trickery not really gelling with the music. Not to mention the cheesy band photos that were just so far from their previous look and the thing just doesn't feel right. Though their cover of Wishing Well does provide a few chuckles....

But as I said, some good riffs and a few good ideas. But not the Savatage we were used to in the early days and nowhere near the more inclusive and interesting experience we became accustomed to in their later years.

For completists only.

Fight For The Rock is an interesting album. It's reputation often proceeding it into the room & doing more harm than good. Much of this reputation has spun off of not necessarily the music itself, but the history of the making of the album & the feelings of the band itself.

But, I don't subscribe to the belief that whatever a band says about the album is the same opinion the listener should have of the album. So, while I may agree with some of the reputation I also believe it's given the album an unfair advantage that it can surely pull out from under if given a second chance.

The general agreement is that Fight For The Rock is the worst album by Savatage - all agree: fans, critics & the band, who disown the album as much as they can, while none of the songs were performed live. The album would nearly destroy the band's reputation, let alone drive frontman Jon Oliva into alcoholism & leaving the band, while leading to producer/songwriter Paul O'Neill being brought in to rescue the struggling rockers. The main problem is that Oliva was hired as a songwriter for Atlantic records & when the previous Savatage album failed to earn enough money, the label forced Savatage to record his newest songs. Not having much control over their career, they acquiesced. Oliva in turns has decried the existance of the album ... though, he's done that since before the album was even recorded, & as so much of the animosity for the album comes from him in the long-term, though its not the best album its no monster, one must recognize his bias in judging it ... as much as mine as a fan in wanting to try to give it a second chance before blanket agreeing with him. But, thus, Savatage ends up recording songs meant for other bands.

But, there's something here that gets lost in translation by critics & Olivia himself - if Oliva was hired as a songwriter, a rare move by a label, that says something about the quality of his work. He's certainly not going to pen horrible songs for other bands. He's out to make a reputation, it's ironic the tide turned. So, essentially, these songs are actually not as bad as reputation says, but just not being interpretted by the right band. The result is like an album of cover tunes by bands that never covered the tunes. Sometimes this works & a band has success with a song written for someone else, but here it's mixed.

The faults of the album domino effect making the result weaker than it might really be. It's not going to win any awards, but it may not deserve the complete demonizing that it gets. Certainly, if the band endorsed the album its legacy would be different.

One problem is that Savatage had changed so much musically since their debut that at this point in time what is the Savatage sound? They may not even have known & thus are unable to put a strong enough stamp on the songs taking them away from the bands they were written for & making them a Savatage product. That's the real problem here. The late Criss Oliva was a great Randy Rhoads-eque guitarist, raw & over-playing at times. Here, he's turned into Bon Jovi light. The irony is that if one looks at his playing from the beginning this album stands out because of this change. He grew so much as a guitarist in a few short years. He's far from raw & unfocused here. Further, unlike earlier albums there's no general mood or feeling that permeates the whole album. Since the songs where written for others & Savatage hasn't stamped them enough the result feels like a compilation of songs taken from different record sessions. It's like a B-Sides collection, back when such things existed.

As for being B-Sides ... it's not Oliva's worst collection of songs but it's not his strongest. At his best Oliva crafted dark songs of a personal flavor, such as "The Dungeons Are Calling", but he also had more than his fair share of bland love songs & shake your fist rock'n'roll songs. Here, half the songs are of the bland flavor. So, it's a collection of the weaker side of Savatage, not necessarily bad, just weak. Probably half the album is salvagable & worth a relisten ... a lot of peers of the time could only be so lucky.

The dark story "Hyde" might be as close as he gets to a new "The Dungeons Are Calling", though the spoken opening is a good idea but poorly executed & the bad production the album suffers from pulls the song down into imitative realms. The dark undertones "Crying For Love" & "Lady In Disguise" are similiar, but are moments of glimmering. If the entire album was like these tracks history would be very different for the boys.

The magic with Savatage is that earlier albums featured bland songs but the mood & playing made up for it. Here even the intricate textures that are lost in the personality crisis that laces the album.
It's interesting that a remake of "Out On The Streets" is included, originally on their debut Sirens. It's far more polished & over a minute shorter. It's not so bad, but the bland lyrics come through while on the Sirens original it doesn't sound so bland. Covers of Badfinger's "Day After Day" & Free's "Wishing Well" are good, but returns to my earlier thought about this being like a collection of songs previously released from different albums ... these are culled from tribute albums. Good songs but strange filler for such a prolific composer. They aren't standout singles so what's the point of their inclusion?

Also of note, is that this is the debut of bassist Johnny Lee Middleton, the only member to appear on every forthcoming Savatage album, who gets a few writing credits right off the bat.

If anything, the album begs some questions: How far could have Criss gone as a guitarist? If Savatage hadn't done this what album would have come in its place? If it hadn't been a failure what would have happened instead & would Criss still be alive, being in a different place at a different time? Would Paul O'Neill have come into the picture if it had been successful? The ground-breaking Hall Of The Mountain King followed, changing their career path & sound, but would that just be another Grieg song if things had been different for Fight For The Rock? Savatage is a band of what if's. Fight For The Rock proves that point.