JOE LYNN TURNER – Live In Germany

Mr. Joe Lynn Turner has been around for three decades now. He’s mostly known for his work with Rainbow during the early 80s, being the singer for the Swedish guitar virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen and fronting Deep Purple in the early 90s. Through the years he has contributed on several recordings. For Norwegian metalers he may also be known for doing backing vocals on two albums from the Norwegian Heavy Rockers TNT; Intuition (1989) and Realized Fantasies (1992). With this amazing back catalogue of album recordings he has become legendary in the Metal World and when listening to his latest release Live In Germany you’ll understand that he hasn’t got that status for nothing.

There are few in the business that still sing with the same strong voice they were blessed with twenty years earlier. On this record you’ll find mostly Rainbow covers. There are actually only three songs that are from his solo career; number 5,8 and 9. Quite a shame that he relies on what he did with a legendary band some decades ago, because his solo material is really strong and he should definitely play more songs from that instead of mostly covers.

Looking besides what’s already mentioned it is a tremendous band one will hear on this record. Opening the show is the energetic “Death Alley Driver” from Rainbow’s 1982 release Straight Between The Eyes, which is in true style of what has been written by Ritchie Blackmore. At the beginning you might be aware of the similarities in the starting guitar riff in this one and the Deep Purple song “Highway Star.” This one is indeed a worthy opener, presenting every member musically, from the beginning of the pounding drums and through the solo sections. It’s really one of the greatest moments of this record.

“Power Of Love” is another stand-out. This one is from Joe’s latest album Usual Suspects which was released on Frontiers Records in 2005 and is a true rocker featuring great and really engaging riffs that make you feel the beat going straight to your heart. Moving onwards there’s a great mixture between Joe’s solo stuff and Rainbow songs. The twelfth song “Spotlight Kid” comes from Joe’s first album with Rainbow entitled Difficult To Cure.

Ending the show is an old Deep Purple tune entitled “Burn.” Seems like every vocalist that has been in Deep Purple covers this song. Of course it’s all about taste, but many might find Whitsnake’s version from their live album from 2006, entitled Live In The Shadow Of The Blues, much better and far more energetic.

All in all, Live In Germany is a live album that will keep finding it’s way back to your CD player. It’s stuffed with great Rock N’ Roll and would certainly appeal to not only fans of Rainbow and Deep Purple, but also to fans of Melodic Heavy Rock. Check it out, it’s definitely worth a try.

Rainbow covers – number 1,2,3,4,6,7,10,11 and 12
Joe Lynn Turner solo – number 5, 8 and 9
Deep Purple cover – number 13

1. Death Alley Driver
   
2. I Surrender
   
3. Power
   
4. Street Of Dreams
   
5. Power Of Love
   
6. Can’t Let Go
   
7. Jealous Lover
   
8. Your Love Is Life
   
9. Blood Red Sky
   
10. Stone Cold
    
11. Can’t Happen Here
    
12. Spotlight Kid
    
13. Burn
    

Lineup

Joe Lynn Turner – Vocals
Karl Cochran – Guitars
Greg Smith – Bass
Michael Sorrentino – Drums
Carmine Giglio – Keyboards