Damn Yankees - Damn Yankees (1990) [2014 Rock Candy Remastered]

Easily in our Top-50 rank among the best US Melodic Hard Rock records of all time, “Damn Yankees“, the self-titled debut by DAMN YANKEES still sounds awesome today, even better on this crisp remaster done by Rock Candy Records including a bonus track.
Super Groups come and go; often in an initial blaze of glory and then more often than not disappear in a puff of smoke due to a half-assed work ethic and the sound of clashing egos.
This was not the case with Damn Yankees, a veritable smorggersboard of prime time American musical hard rock talent: Ted Nugent, Tommy Shaw (Styx), Jack Blades (Night Ranger) and drummer Michael Cartellone.
A four man wrecking crew who came together with the objective of celebrating not only their considerable reputations but also to establish a new beachhead for further success.



Formed in late 1988 in New York City, the band quickly solidified via a series of rehearsals and a demo that led them to sign a record deal with Warner Brothers, who promptly put them in the studio with renowned producer Ron Nevison (Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, UFO, Heart), a man with not only great chops but also a certain hard working reputation.

Recorded in Los Angeles, the album exceeded all expectations, providing the band with a springboard to double platinum success, a #13 place on the Billboard LP chart and an impressive run of sold out live dates.
Musically, the band were firing on all six cylinders, notching up an impressive number of hits and anthems such as ‘Come Again’, ‘Coming Of Age’, ‘Runaway’ and the massively successful power ballad ‘High Enough’, a song that reached #3 on the US singles chart.

And together with these terrific songs you have the bonus track “Bonestripper”, the rocking single B-Side also used in a movie soundtrack.


Tracks:

1 Coming Of Age 4:20
2 Bad Reputation 4:30
3 Runaway 4:04
4 High Enough 4:45
5 Damn Yankees 4:40
6 Come Again 5:40
7 Mystified 4:15
8 Rock City 4:27
9 Tell Me How You Want It 4:35
10 Piledriver 4:30
Bonus Track:
11 Bonestripper (Single B-Side) 4:33

Personnel:

Tommy Shaw – guitars and vocals
Ted Nugent – guitars and vocals
Jack Blades – bass and vocals
Michael Cartellone – drums
Additional musicians:
Steve Freeman – keyboards
Alan Pasqua – Hammond organ
Neverleave Brothers – backing vocals
B.J. Ingram, David Niwa, Marion Pinhiero, Marti Sweet, Gerlad Tarack, Sarah Carter, Jesse Levy, Charles McCracken – strings