Let's Go Motorin'--Night Ranger's Greatest Hits

Night Ranger was formed in the early eighties by a group of like-minded guys who perfectly fit the musical philosophy of that period--they made their bones by playing in-your-face hard rock 'n roll with just the right touch of melody to make it commercially successful. After releasing several critically acclaimed albums and chart-active singles, the band broke up in 1989, and the members pursued other projects, the most notable being the Jack Blaydes-Ted Nugent alliance, Damn Yankees. Surprisingly, the original members reunited in 1996, and released a comeback album titled Neverland. As of this writing, the band is coming off its latest release, Seven, and is actively touring, although not playing the big arenas that it packed during their heyday.

Greatest Hits is just that--the obligatory collection of the most commercially successful songs Night Ranger released from the time the band was formed until the first breakup in 1989. This album consists of twelve tracks, and I can honestly say that if you'd never heard of Night Ranger, you could get a pretty good handle on what this band was all about by listening to it. Most of you long-time music fans ( especially those of you who listen to the radio frequently) will recognize many of these songs. I was never really a big fan, but after hearing this collection, I find that I'm really quite familiar with most of the songs on this album.

Night Ranger was (and is, I guess):

Jack Blaydes, bass, lead vocals
Kelly Keagy, drums, lead vocals
Brad Gillis, guitars, vocals
Jeff Watson, guitars
Alan "Fitz" Gerald, keyboards, vocals

The Musical Highlights

Sister Christian was probably Night Ranger's biggest hit--the elegant keyboards and soaring guitar combine with the hook line--"Motorin'"..... to create an anthem of epic proportions. (You Can Still) Rock In America and Don't Tell Me You Love Me are fine upbeat examples of Night Ranger's in-your-face style of rock 'n roll, while Sentimental Street captures some of the feel of Sister Christian and succeeds as a piano-based ballad. Sing Me Away is a Van Halenish arena rocker, and Goodbye uses a screaming guitar to overlay a piano line to create a melodic texture that makes for some good listening.

When You Close Your Eyes features a lot of synthesizer contrasted with a searing guitar line and some urgent vocals, while Restless Kind and Four In The Morning again utilize the piano-synthesizer-guitar combination to drive home Night Ranger's rock 'n roll message. The remaining tracks, Secret Of My Success, Eddie's Coming Out Tonight, and Rumours In The Air are songs that I hadn't heard before I listened to this album. I suspect that it's because these songs didn't get as much airplay and exposure as the others on this album, but each seems to be typical of the style of Night Ranger. The synthesizer seems to be used more on the later songs, while the earlier ones pretty much stick to a basic rock 'n roll formula of piano, guitar and excellent vocals.

Greatest Hits should appeal to those of you who liked the music of the eighties. Sure, the argument can be made that most eighties bands were more or less interchangeable, and I can see that point. Whether or not the music of Night Ranger can be termed "classic" is a question for the listener to decide. Personally, I wouldn't buy their entire catalogue because I don't think the music is that exceptional. I do think that it was good music performed by very talented musicians, so their Greatest Hits suits my needs just perfectly.

Thanks for reading.