Probably the best Live Acoustic album since Tesla's 'Five Man Acoustical Jam'.

Not only do Frontiers pick the cream of the current talent, but they’re also home to many of our most beloved Classic Rock bands, and the latest release from one such act is this Live CD/DVD package from Night Ranger. As a celebration of 30 years since debut album ‘Dawn Patrol’, the band recorded an intimate acoustic set in Sausalito, California, with refreshing arrangements of some of their best-loved songs.

The sound quality of the album is amazing, and the band themselves sound like they’re having a ball, with constant shouts of encouragement to each other, and some of the more intricate guitar parts of Brad Gillis and Joel Hoekstra sound amazing when transformed for the acoustic environment. Jack Blades and Kelly Keagy pretty much split the vocals down the middle with a great selection of songs, the most recent being ‘Growing Up In California’, and as for the rest, well you won’t get better than the likes of ‘This Boy Needs To Rock’, ‘When You Close Your Eyes’, ‘Sing Me Away’, ‘Sentimental Street’ and ‘Don’t Tell Me You Love Me’, before the set gets wrapped up with the monumental (if slightly predictable) ‘Sister Christian’ and ‘(You Can Still) Rock In America.’

In Fireworks #53 I claimed that Don Henley’s ‘Boys Of Summer’ is one of those classic songs that should be left well alone when it comes to selecting cover versions, but now I stand well and truly corrected! The acoustic version that Night Ranger turn in here as a bonus track is awesome, I never thought it could be delivered in acoustic form, but it’s done perfectly, without taking anything away from the original. (Note: it’s not available on the DVD.)

Probably the best Live Acoustic album since Tesla’s ‘Five Man Acoustical Jam’, it really is that good!

Ant Heeks