667 ...The Neighbour Of The Beast - Rock of Norway [no]
9 / 10 - My first encounter with Wig Wam was through Rock Of Norway Contributer Per Erik Jansen (aka AOR Guru) as he repeatedly went on and on about this band. I must admit that I really didn’t take much notice of what he said, because I suspected it was just another coversband. I thought that it was just one of a million bands “cashing in” on the Glam image being that that whole package is and Rock’n’Roll is “very happening” these days, but My God I couldn’t be more wrong! Never judge a book by it’s cover goes an old saying, but in this case I’ll say : Never judge a record by it’s image.
With quite a few familiar names in the Norwegian Hardrock scene like: guitarplayer Trond Holter alias (they all have aliases) Teeny formerly of Dream Police and Evenrude, Bernt Jansen aka Flash bassplayer of Artch, Bobby Andersen for this occupation named Sporty from AORster’s Sha Boom handeling the drums and the freshfaced (to most of us at least) Glam; real name Aage Steen on vocals. I began to wonder why these great musicans wouldn’t revitalize Dream Police or Artch instead starting up with a fresh new approach.
Quite a few years ago at the start of the 80’s I was watching the European Song Contest just like everyone else and back in those days, and even nowadays this televisional is a programme that “no-one watches” and “everybody loves to hate”. The day I discovered Wig Wam was one of those Saturdays, it was in the Norwegian Finals during the unmentionable TV-show. After setteling down in my comfortable chair it was Wig Wam’s turn to perform their song with only one question in mind; Was this the band our co’writer had been talking about? Yes it was, and they were belting out AOR in vein of the purest Bon jovi fashion! I must admit that I haven’t been more surprised since the Joik (a chant like singing tradition of the Sami people) Sami Ednan was performed in the early 80’s. The only difference was back then I fell out of my chair laughing, needless to say i didn’t this Saturday.
Come Monday I couldn’t get to my local recordstore fast enough to check out if they had the Wig Wam album. On with the headset and another surprise hits me: The whole album is sheer quality, consisting of their own material plus one coversong and I find myself thinking who needs Dream Police, Artch etc.
The album opens with an intro called “667” which can only can be seen a s a tribute Iron Maiden’s “The Number of the beast” interpreted in in Wig Wam’s very own way. The intro kicks into “Best song in the world” a song that draws the lines back to the good ol’ 80’s and it makes me think along the the lines of bands like: Bon Jovi (as already mentioned), Whitesnake, Bad English ...you name it...! Second tune is their Eurosong contributon “Crazy things”, a song that can best be described as an AOR fan’s wet dream, because you just got it all here: guitars, synths and a chorus you simply can’t resist to sing along to. ...and best of all it continues in the same fashion all through the record, as the AOR jewels lines up for the listener: Out of time, Mine all mine, Hard to be a Rock’n’Roller, Tell me where to go and Erection (the latter one a guitarpiece in Eddie Van Halen style) as a whole the album varies from soft ballads to Poppy AOR and Rockers all with the same thing in focus meaning rocksolid refrains nailing it together in a perfect way. All this after just one listen, and I wonder what will it be like after having lived with the album for a while.
Here I am weeks later and I haven’t taken the damn thing out of my cd-player for weeks, now doesn’t that just say it all???
Their choice of coversong is also something special Mel C’s “I turn to you”, again done in Wig Wam’s special way, a version that makes my knees shiver. Megacool AOR soaked with tons of guitars and synth the exact way I want it to be! Car-lyle is another Tekroe/Van Halen-styled riff, again it’s nothing less than great. Bless the night is a catchy poppy AOR tune before the album finishes off with another couple of musical pearls in the shape of: “A long way” and “No more living on lies”
WOW is the only expression to describe how breathtakingly good this album is. I can’t remember having enjoyed a record as much as this one in years. How is it humanly possible in 2004 to make an album full of the finest AOR that would have been guaranteed have had a few hits in the 80’s (had it been released then), when today’s musicscene and airwaves is ruled by Hip Hop, Trance, bad pop silicone breasts...and whatever.....
Anyway, Wig Wam is here for good, ad for the conneisseurs of Melodic Hardrock/AOR that’s definately a good thing. In my books they can easily be called Norway’s answer to the Darkness, with me referring to the Glam image that surely wouldn’t bother me. But the difference is that Wig Wam’s music is dead serious!!
Fans of the aforementioned bands as well as Def Leppard, Van Halen, Europe, Da Vinci, Evenrude etc buy, buy, buy......
PS: Evenrude produced “I turn to you” and “No more livin’ on lies”
Review by Terje Høiland, Rock of Norway
www.rockofnorway.com
With quite a few familiar names in the Norwegian Hardrock scene like: guitarplayer Trond Holter alias (they all have aliases) Teeny formerly of Dream Police and Evenrude, Bernt Jansen aka Flash bassplayer of Artch, Bobby Andersen for this occupation named Sporty from AORster’s Sha Boom handeling the drums and the freshfaced (to most of us at least) Glam; real name Aage Steen on vocals. I began to wonder why these great musicans wouldn’t revitalize Dream Police or Artch instead starting up with a fresh new approach.
Quite a few years ago at the start of the 80’s I was watching the European Song Contest just like everyone else and back in those days, and even nowadays this televisional is a programme that “no-one watches” and “everybody loves to hate”. The day I discovered Wig Wam was one of those Saturdays, it was in the Norwegian Finals during the unmentionable TV-show. After setteling down in my comfortable chair it was Wig Wam’s turn to perform their song with only one question in mind; Was this the band our co’writer had been talking about? Yes it was, and they were belting out AOR in vein of the purest Bon jovi fashion! I must admit that I haven’t been more surprised since the Joik (a chant like singing tradition of the Sami people) Sami Ednan was performed in the early 80’s. The only difference was back then I fell out of my chair laughing, needless to say i didn’t this Saturday.
Come Monday I couldn’t get to my local recordstore fast enough to check out if they had the Wig Wam album. On with the headset and another surprise hits me: The whole album is sheer quality, consisting of their own material plus one coversong and I find myself thinking who needs Dream Police, Artch etc.
The album opens with an intro called “667” which can only can be seen a s a tribute Iron Maiden’s “The Number of the beast” interpreted in in Wig Wam’s very own way. The intro kicks into “Best song in the world” a song that draws the lines back to the good ol’ 80’s and it makes me think along the the lines of bands like: Bon Jovi (as already mentioned), Whitesnake, Bad English ...you name it...! Second tune is their Eurosong contributon “Crazy things”, a song that can best be described as an AOR fan’s wet dream, because you just got it all here: guitars, synths and a chorus you simply can’t resist to sing along to. ...and best of all it continues in the same fashion all through the record, as the AOR jewels lines up for the listener: Out of time, Mine all mine, Hard to be a Rock’n’Roller, Tell me where to go and Erection (the latter one a guitarpiece in Eddie Van Halen style) as a whole the album varies from soft ballads to Poppy AOR and Rockers all with the same thing in focus meaning rocksolid refrains nailing it together in a perfect way. All this after just one listen, and I wonder what will it be like after having lived with the album for a while.
Here I am weeks later and I haven’t taken the damn thing out of my cd-player for weeks, now doesn’t that just say it all???
Their choice of coversong is also something special Mel C’s “I turn to you”, again done in Wig Wam’s special way, a version that makes my knees shiver. Megacool AOR soaked with tons of guitars and synth the exact way I want it to be! Car-lyle is another Tekroe/Van Halen-styled riff, again it’s nothing less than great. Bless the night is a catchy poppy AOR tune before the album finishes off with another couple of musical pearls in the shape of: “A long way” and “No more living on lies”
WOW is the only expression to describe how breathtakingly good this album is. I can’t remember having enjoyed a record as much as this one in years. How is it humanly possible in 2004 to make an album full of the finest AOR that would have been guaranteed have had a few hits in the 80’s (had it been released then), when today’s musicscene and airwaves is ruled by Hip Hop, Trance, bad pop silicone breasts...and whatever.....
Anyway, Wig Wam is here for good, ad for the conneisseurs of Melodic Hardrock/AOR that’s definately a good thing. In my books they can easily be called Norway’s answer to the Darkness, with me referring to the Glam image that surely wouldn’t bother me. But the difference is that Wig Wam’s music is dead serious!!
Fans of the aforementioned bands as well as Def Leppard, Van Halen, Europe, Da Vinci, Evenrude etc buy, buy, buy......
PS: Evenrude produced “I turn to you” and “No more livin’ on lies”
Review by Terje Høiland, Rock of Norway
www.rockofnorway.com
