Alcatrazz

[Steve Savicki]

http://www.bnrmetal.com/groups/alca.htm

I haven't heard Vai's '85 performance on "disturbing the peace", but Malmsteen grew as a better player since Alcatrazz.

I just replayed "No Parole From Rock'n'Roll" and it's nothing great, but it's not bad.

Anyone else remember Alcatrazz?

[Mr. Vengeance]

Yeah..they pretty much stunk IMO. One of the cheesiest videos ever too.

[Steve Savicki]

Did you have any of their albums?

It's nice to know Vai was guitar live in '85:

'84 - Zappa
'85 - Alcatrazz
'86 - Roth

Was Alca Vai's only 1985 musical project?

[Gringo]

I think "Mercy" with Vai is a kickass-song. Vai plays really well on that. Killer riff! Otherwise, not many good songs i like with Alcatrazz.

[bueno bob]

Alcatrazz was a good band with Yngwie Malmsteen...a fair one with Steve Vai...and a worthless one with Danny Johnson.

"No Parole from Rock 'n' Roll", if you can get past the Graham Bonnet element, remains one of the base foundations of shred guitar you're able to hear - if a bit unbalanced in quality. Definitely some outstanding material though..."Jet to Jet", "Hiroshima Mon Amour", "Kree Nakoorie", "Big Foot"...Malmsteen's just all over the place and in perfect form...what "Steeler" hinted at, "No Parole" delivered - shred had arrived, for sure...

Listening to that album (and the live follow up album, "Live Sentence"), you can really hear where the talent in the band was - and it was in Yngwie's fingers. Gary Shea, Jimmy Waldo, Jan Uvena...all very average musicians; were it not for Graham's background in Rainbow, MSG and as a solo artist, and Yngwie's ridiculous amount of talent, Alcatrazz wouldn't have gotten off the ground. Bonnet was simply wretched on "Live Sentence" and without Yngwie on it, I wouldn't even be able to listen to it.

"Disturbing the Peace" was a pretty good affair as well (and the only Steve Vai work I actually enjoy cover to cover), but it was still unbalanced in quality, and I think a lot of that has to do with Bonnet himself...he's neither a good singer nor a good lyricist. I read one review that called him rock music's perfect chameleon - he's taken on so many different personalities in so many different bands over the years, he's got absolutely no identity of his own. I think that's pretty much an accurate take on him.

"Dangerous Games" with Danny Johnson on guitar was just God awful. Didn't even remotely resemble the Alcatrazz that had come before it and it was buried so deeply in '80's keyboard shlock it was practically laughable. Not much wonder they split up after that...

HOWEVER...Alcatrazz is, apparently, back together - or a sort of Alcatrazz is. Basically it's a "Graham Bonnet's Alcatrazz" sort of deal, meaning it's him and a couple of John Q's playing under the name...I believe the band is Bonnet on vocals, Howie Simon on guitar, Glenn Sobel on the kit and Tim Luce on bass...no original members other than Bonnet himself, and no word on a keyboard player either, which'll change the Alcatrazz sound dramatically if he opts to go without one...keyboards figured pretty prominently in Alcatrazz's sound.

Stupid idea, I think. If he wanted to do it, he should have at least grabbed the original backing band and got a new guitarist. In a perfect world, he'd have Malmsteen doing it with him, but I seriously doubt Yngwie would want to waste his time with it...

[Steve Savicki]

So Vai grew this much from Alcatrazz to East 'Em & Smile?

[ThrillsNSpills]

Originally posted by Steve Savicki
So Vai grew this much from Alcatrazz to East 'Em & Smile?

stop obsessing on his penis size.
Go to Vai.com
or have you ever heard of www.vhlinks.com

you'd fit in well