Jake E Lee's tone was ahead of it's time on The Ultimate Sin

[angelspade]

I started with Seventh Son of a Seventh Son as a kid and worked backwards. Once I hit the Di'Anno I couldn't care if I never heard that operatic harpy Dickinson again. He's a good singer but his voice grates on me. Di'Anno is raw, aggressive, in your face, like a good Plexi. So much better. The lyrics and thematics got too corny with Dickinson. Like some kind of kid's medieval fantasy novel stuff. Yuck.

Couldn't agree more, I am in the minority...But I strongly prefer Paul's raspy, gritty vocals over his replacement. Same goes for Bon Scott in AC/DC.

 

[jabps]

He did play loud! I saw him on the Badlands tour at Toads place - my ears rang for 3 days.
Caught him with Red Dragon Cartel a few years ago - he still likes it loud.
He was a huge influence on my early playing, but I was never a huge fan of his recorded tones

Saw him on the first Badlands tour with Singer on drums, honestly it was one of the most unenjoyable concerts I've seen as Jake was mind numbingly stupid loud. We stood in front of Jake for about half the set and it was like getting punched in the eardrums song after song. Finally had enough and left.

And being totally honest, Enuff Znuff opened that night and Derek Frigo ate his lunch. They sounded incredible.

 

[jabps]

Jake really came into his own on Ultimate Sin. YMMV.

Overall I like BATM much better however do agree on Jakes playing on Sin, he stepped it up a notch and IMO was his high water mark.

I like Badlands, Gillen was amazing but as a player Jake took too much of a left turn for me "at that point". I actually appreciate the Badlands stuff more now than I did at the time they were relevant.

 

[Greazygeo]

He did play loud! I saw him on the Badlands tour at Toads place - my ears rang for 3 days.
Caught him with Red Dragon Cartel a few years ago - he still likes it loud.
He was a huge influence on my early playing, but I was never a huge fan of his recorded tones

Saw him on the first Badlands tour with Singer on drums, honestly it was one of the most unenjoyable concerts I've seen as Jake was mind numbingly stupid loud. We stood in front of Jake for about half the set and it was like getting punched in the eardrums song after song. Finally had enough and left.

And being totally honest, Enuff Znuff opened that night and Derek Frigo ate his lunch. They sounded incredible.

He was stinking loud when I saw him with Wicked Alliance at the Alrosa…5 or 6 5150 full stacks and they were all cranked. He was louder than the pa system. Left after 5 or 6 tunes.

 

[jabps]

He was stinking loud when I saw him with Wicked Alliance at the Alrosa…5 or 6 5150 full stacks and they were all cranked. He was louder than the pa system. Left after 5 or 6 tunes.

Same here with Wicked Alliance, left again. I mean the only reason we went to that was for Jake and then that nonsense.

I mean I've played a ton of live gigs, heck at one stretch 160 dates over an 18 month period, I like being loud as well but that and Badlands volume stuff, just stupid unnecessary.

 

[Greazygeo]

Same here with Wicked Alliance, left again. I mean the only reason we went to that was for Jake and then that nonsense.

I mean I've played a ton of live gigs, heck at one stretch 160 dates over an 18 month period, I like being loud as well but that and Badlands volume stuff, just stupid unnecessary.

Yeah it was crazy. Alrosa was a decent sized club / venue maybe hold 800-1000.

Saw Badlands at Newport Music Hall a few years earlier on first tour I think. He had his leg ina cast /brace. That venue holds 3000 I think. He had an orange Marshall stack, I think it was just one. Im surenit was cranked, but large enough venue for it.

 

[shar-vell Dan]

By far ...

 

[jabps]

Yeah it was crazy. Alrosa was a decent sized club / venue maybe hold 800-1000.

Saw Badlands at Newport Music Hall a few years earlier on first tour I think. He had his leg ina cast /brace. That venue holds 3000 I think. He had an orange Marshall stack, I think it was just one. Im surenit was cranked, but large enough venue for it.

Yeah saw him both times at The Cannery's Mainstage in Nashville. With Badlands he had his Orange Marshall Stacks. It was two stacks for sure possibly three. And he was so nauseatingly loud that of course Greg Chaisson has turn his shit up to compete with that nonsense. Honestly it looked like Singer and Jake were in a pissing match anyway between songs...it was odd to say the least.

Can't say this enough, Derek Frigo blew him away that night. In fact I became a fan of Enuff Znuff because of that show. Those guys sounded like a heavier version of their first album which they were touring behind. Seems like Frigo had a Boogie backline at the time...the original Boogie 4x12's but it's been a minute lol, regardless he sounded phenomenal.

 

[JTyson]

I just don't get into the theatrics, maybe that's it. Gimme the music and forget the on-stage fluff. The masks and pyrotechnics. It's like Floyd. The first thing out of everyone's mouth is "they have an AMAZING light show". Big deal. *shrugs

Di'Anno was raw. Street level. Like a dude I would've grown up with and gotten my ass kicked by at a bonfire party whereas Dickinson combed his chest hair. When I was 12 and into medieval fantasy novels I could dig it. The Live After Death record...I really wanted that video but concert express vids were out of my junior pocket book price range. I grew out of it. Now when I watch it today free on youtube I'd rather just hear the record. It's high level musicianship, and a great set list, no doubting that, but I'm in it for the music not the extraneous stuff. And being mostly a blues and black music fan I like raw stuff you'd see at a local club, not at a sports arena. There is a disconnect there for me. Once it's more about the show than the music count me out, no matter who it is.

I still do like some of the Dickinson stuff, especially "Where Eagles Dare" "Two Minutes To Midnite", the war oriented stuff was cool but it seems it got more and more fantasy oriented and I ultimately gravitate towards raw stuff and grew to hate sci fi stuff as I got older. Freddie King. Albert King. Albert Collins. Pantera. Early Maiden. Death. Not a metal guy really (report post) but I do appreciate raw, intense music. Blow me away with the band, not the fog and lasers.

I get that completely, but if the stage setup and theatre stuff is done as part of the music theme, I think it adds to the experience if done properly.
Ive seen a lot of bands that had none of that and it was badass. Purely the music and attitude and that's certainly rock and roll as its been from the beginning. Not a dam thing wrong with that!
But if you were to try and come up with a live show that took those elements and you wanted to make it impact people more, its the logical path forward to complete the whole experience. Not that its a replacement for actual talent at all, but if done properly it adds dimension and impact in a live setting. Look at the time when that stuff was done, back then "bigger was better" in the 80's, and while I never thought it was a replacement for actual talent, Maiden had that by the truckload, it was certainly an advantage for ticket sales to be the biggest, baddest thing people had ever seen up to that point. I always hated glam bands and all the stupid shit that went with it.
I guess a part of me misses bigger is better, things now are very minimalistic for a whole lot of reasons, some good and some bad.
At some point back then, things got so big there was really no way to take it any further. What then?
Think about seeing the song 7th Son of a 7th Son and you get to the transitional long part in the middle, for non musicians that part would be utterly boring without the fog and lighting that worked with the music in a live setting. Just saying it does add something for visual impact if it goes with what's playing

 

[Racerxrated]

Yeah saw him both times at The Cannery's Mainstage in Nashville. With Badlands he had his Orange Marshall Stacks. It was two stacks for sure possibly three. And he was so nauseatingly loud that of course Greg Chaisson has turn his shit up to compete with that nonsense. Honestly it looked like Singer and Jake were in a pissing match anyway between songs...it was odd to say the least.

Can't say this enough, Derek Frigo blew him away that night. In fact I became a fan of Enuff Znuff because of that show. Those guys sounded like a heavier version of their first album which they were touring behind. Seems like Frigo had a Boogie backline at the time...the original Boogie 4x12's but it's been a minute lol, regardless he sounded phenomenal.

Interesting...when I saw EnuffZnuff at First Ave in Mpls they were just OK....decent, but Frigo was supposed to be this impressive shredder and he played non shred stuff that was pretty basic. Good player but I didn't walk away thinking he was amazing, like the press would have me think. Maybe he was into his addiction then? It was 89 or 90; can't remember exactly.
But a few months earlier I saw Mr Big on their first album tour...Gilbert was amazing and no one I saw could touch him, for shred anyway.

 

[hammered]

Great tones on The Ultimate Sin but I wouldn’t call it ahead of its time

 

[jabps]

Interesting...when I saw EnuffZnuff at First Ave in Mpls they were just OK....decent, but Frigo was supposed to be this impressive shredder and he played non shred stuff that was pretty basic. Good player but I didn't walk away thinking he was amazing, like the press would have me think. Maybe he was into his addiction then? It was 89 or 90; can't remember exactly.
But a few months earlier I saw Mr Big on their first album tour...Gilbert was amazing and no one I saw could touch him, for shred anyway.

Yeah maybe so on Frigo, he was certainly into the bad stuff. He was straight on the night I saw him. Gilbert is legend, just such a badass and a good guy as well. Met him a few times in a normal setting back in the Mr. Big days, totally laidback.