Backlash

Much like their debut, you can put a band in leather, but you can’t necessarily put the leather in the band. John Waite is a great singer and Neal Schon is a great guitarist, but they still can’t quite break away from their pop sensibilities and so it’s rarely the rock record they claimed it was going to be. There are some great guitar riffs and melodies, but the keyboards make sure it never gets too hard. A couple songs on here like Pray for Rain and Straight to Your Heart come close though. And of course there are some good ballads and the production is top notch, so if you like that sort of highly polished AOR, pop rock doesn’t get much better than this. --Scott