Year : 1985 (Frontiers Records 25th Anniversary Edition 2010)
Style : Glam Hard Rock
Country : United States
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans + Video
Size : 117 mb
Bio:
Keel is an American heavy metal band founded in 1984 in Los Angeles, California. They are known for their rock anthem "The Right to Rock." The band was active until 1989, with a brief reunion in 1998. Keel reunited again in 2008 and toured in 2009 for their 25th anniversary.Keel was formed by former Steeler vocalist Ron Keel. The original members were Ron Keel on vocals, former Icon / Schoolboys member David Michael Phillips on guitar, Marc Ferrari on lead & rhythm guitars, Bobby Marks on drums and Kenny Chaisson on bass guitar. Within months, Phillips left to join King Kobra and was replaced by ex-Sexist guitarist Bryan Jay.This was the lineup for their 1984 debut album Lay Down the Law.After the album's release, Marks left and was replaced by Steven Riley, who subsequently left early in the recording of the band's second album to join W.A.S.P., and was in turn replaced by Dwain Miller, forming a lineup which would remain stable for almost 4 years. Their debut album caught the eye of KISS' Gene Simmons, resulting in his production of their second album, The Right To Rock, released on March 26, 1985. Their next and also Simmons-produced third album The Final Frontier was released on April 30, 1986. It included the single "Because the Night", a song that was co-written by Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen and had been a hit for Smith in 1978.In 1986, Keel won the Best Band of the Year award in the 2nd annual Metal Edge magazine reader's poll, beating such noted bands as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest.In 1987, the song "Rock & Roll Outlaw" (a cover from the 1978 self titled debut of Australian hard rock band Rose Tattoo) appeared on the soundtrack of the movie Dudes. Their fourth album, Keel, was released on June 21, 1987, recorded with producer Michael Wagener. An unreleased track from the album, Ferrari's "Proud To Be Loud", would eventually wind up on Pantera's Power Metal album, which Ferrari produced early in 1988.Ferrari & Jay both left in 1988, after touring in support of the Keel album. They were replaced by keyboardist Scott Warren, later in Dio, and Baton Rouge guitarist Tony Palmucci.Their fifth album, Larger Than Live, was released in 1989 with six new studio recordings, including a cover of the 1980 Humble Pie song "Fool for a Pretty Face". Also on the album were six live tracks recorded in March 1989. Following the shooting of the music video for the song "Dreams Are Not Enough" on that same year, Ron Keel announced the disbandment of Keel. In the 1990s, Ferrari wrote a gear column for Metal Edge magazine entitled "Power Sources", and went on to form Cold Sweat with among others ex-UFO guitarist Erik Gamans, who would release the album Break Out in 1990. After the demise of that group, Ferrari appeared in both Wayne's World movies (as the guitarist for Tia Carrere's band "Crucial Taunt") and formed the band Medicine Wheel, which released three CDs. In addition, he released two solo CDs and started a music publishing company called MasterSource, employing Ron Keel to write material for the library. Ferrari also recently wrote a book titled Rock Star 101.Bryan Jay and Dwain Miller went from Keel to forming a band called Dogbone, with ex-Riot vocalist Rhett Forrester, bassist Rob Thiessen and vocalist Eddie Salz.In 1998, members of Keel got together to release their sixth album Keel VI: Back in Action. It mainly consisted of unreleased material from their previous albums, including the aforementioned "Proud To Be Loud".The band's song "Speed Demon" (from The Right to Rock) is briefly heard on the 2002 movie Men in Black II, and appears on Mike Varney's U.S. Metal Vol. IV compilation.Ron Keel has pursued numerous musiefore forming the country metal band IronHorse in 2001. In 2006, Ron left IronHorse and formed K2 Featuring Ron Keel a year later.On November 2008, Keel reunited in time to celebrate the band's 25th anniversary. All the members from The Right to Rock era have rejoined except for Chaisson. The new bassist is Ron Keel's longtime friend, Geno Arce. Their first reunion show was held in Hollywood, CA, on January 24, 2009.In addition, the band played at the third annual Rocklahoma festival on July 2009.A reunion album, Streets of Rock & Roll was released in 2010, as well as a 25th anniversary edition of The Right to Rock featuring a brand new re-recorded version of the title song as a bonus track.
Album:
Keel‘s “The Right To Rock Anniversary Edition remastered” was released by Frontiers Music alongside their comeback album Streets Of Rock & Roll, and it was requested by a reader of this blog to check the remastering job and the featured two bonus tracks.“The Right To Rock” was the second studio album by Keel and the one that marked the band’s explosion into the ’80s US Hard rock / metal scene.Now, listening the record in perspective, one wonders why Keel didn’t make the step up to the big league back in the day. It was a quite successful album reaching # 99 in the Billboard 200, but the band never went massive.They certainly had a lot of things going in the ’80s – Gene Simmons in the producer’s chair, support slots on major tours, an ass-kicker of a music video – but platinum album sells did not happened.Every band of this ilk needed an anthem, a call to arms, and Keel got it in the opening title track, an anthemic, fists-in-the-air classic rock classic and reason enough alone for you to buy this album. Catchy guitar riffs from Marc Ferrari and screaming vocals from Ron Keel and most importantly with songs of this era an arena-ready chorus line that would have crowds punching fists in the air in time to the words ‘The Right To Rock’. Keel really could never have gone wrong with this song.Want more reasons? ‘Back To The City’, ‘Electric Love’ – songs that belong in another age or in your record collection? Swallow your pride, stop pretending that you are too cool to enjoy this music and slap this disc in your death deck when you’re getting ready to go out and you are guaranteed to not be sleeping alone that night… or Gene Simmons will give you your money back!There’s more winners in ‘Speed Demon’, ‘Get Down’ (which has a real Kiss feel to it), ‘You’re The Victim, (I’m The Crime)’ – honestly, there isn’t a bad track on this album.The choice to cover the Rolling Stones song ‘Let’s Spend The Night Together’ could have been a dangerous one; let’s be honest, doing covers is a dangerous sport that can lose a band credit if it fails. But Keel pull it off with flair and even manage to propel this to one of the highlight spots on the album.If you shed a little tear for the ’80s, when your troubles – and waistline – seemed much smaller, then this album is an essential purchase. A time capsule maybe, but a time capsule that just so happens to be rammed full of mullet-shaking rock anthems.For the purists who already have this classic album on every format, there are a couple of reasons why this 25th Anniversary Edition is a must-have; there’s a remix of ‘Easier Said Than Done’ but, of more interest, a new version of the title track recorded with the reunited line-up – which replaces bassist Kenny Chaisson with Geno Arce – which, happily, it’s even better than the original.For this new recording of the song ‘The Right To Rock’, Keel invited their fans to participate via the internet. Keelaholics could download a guide track, sing along with the chorus, and send in an MP3 to be blended with the all-star chorus of the song which also features Paul Shortino (Rough Cutt, Quiet Riot), Lez Warner (The Cult), Ron Mancuso (Beggars & Thieves) and other members of the Las Vegas Rock scene (even Graham Russell from Air Supply joined in!).Additionally, the remaster worked wonderfully, resulting in a more bright and punchy output. “The Right To Rock Anniversary Edition remastered” sounds million bucks.
Line Up:
Ron Keel – vocals and guitar
Marc Ferrari – guitar and vocals
Bryan Jay – guitar and vocals
Kenny Chaisson – bass and vocals
Steve Riley – drums and vocals
Production:
Gene Simmons – producer
Mike Davis – engineer, mixing
Paul Wertheimer, Sebastian Thoner, Bruce Smith, Eddie Delena, Craig Engel – assistant engineers
Greg Fulginti – mastering
Aaron Rapoport – photography
Chuck Beeson – art direction, design
John Taylor Dismukes – illustrations
Ron Keel – liner notes
Tracklist:
01. The Right To Rock
02. Back To The City
03. Let’s Spend The Night Together
04. Easier Said Than Done
05. So Many Girls, So Little Time
06. Electric Love
07. Speed Demon
08. Get Down
09. You’re The Victim (I’m The Crime)
10. Easier Said Than Done (Remix) (Bonus Track)
11. The Right To Rock (Reunion Version) (Bonus Track)
+ Video "The Right To Rock" (Official Video)
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