Review Summary: Voodoo Highway should be regarded more as an artistic success, even though it is inferior to the Badlands debut.
Badlands is a band that is synonymous with the word “underrated”, both during the period of its short existence and now. Formed by vocalist Ray Gillen and guitarist
Jake E. Lee (individuals who can also be easily described with the same word), the band released a terrific eponymous debut in 1989. The album was notable for steering away from the still-popular glam metal, being instead imbued with blues-tinged hard rock, mostly devoid of the typical 1980s studio polish. The LP was moderately successful in terms of sales, so almost exactly two years later a new (and, as it turned out, the last) album was released, titled
Voodoo Highway.
In general, the release continues the direction presented on their debut. Despite the popularity of 80s rock – even though it was dwindling rapidly – Badlands refused to follow genre standards, going their own way. Thus, absent is the boisterous and hedonistic vibe of fun and partying (a rock ‘n’ roll stereotype that was carried to the point of absurdity at the time), and there are no prerequisite saccharine power ballads about the rosy feelings of eternal love sitting cozily next to party anthems. However, you can feel a slight move – reluctant or deliberate – towards a softening of the band’s sound.
It seems that while working on
Voodoo Highway, Badlands faced certain complications. One of the major stumbling blocks was the label pressure to produce hit songs (a situation which, unfortunately, happens too often), something that the band naturally tried to resist. Still, that type of environment couldn’t not help but leave its mark, resulting in strained relations between Lee and Gillen, who were the primary songwriters. This might explain that peculiar fence-straddling feel in the Badlands sound on the album. As such, among the powerful rockers we find two softer tracks –
Show Me the Way and
Fire and Rain. Overall, these songs leave a decent impression, since they still lack the excessive sweetness often inherent in their ilk. At the same time, they are not memorable enough to stick in one’s mind, acting more like filler padding the LP’s running time.
Luckily, almost all of the remaining tracks are in the vein of solid hard rock. Once again, Jake E. Lee confirms his status of an underrated axe-slinger, churning out one strong riff after another. However, it should be noted that in no way does he try to steal the show; quite the opposite, he works hand in hand with his band members so that the songs flow as a joint effort.
A certain variety is noticeable. The album has straightforward hard rock (
The Last Time,
Shine On,
Love Don’t Mean a Thing,
Heaven’s Train), but there are also tracks saturated with country and Southern rock (
Whiskey Dust,
Silver Horses,
Voodoo Highway), and even a funky cut (
3 Day Funk). Also present are two acoustic and ambient pieces –
Joe’s Blues,
In a Dream – but, despite their somewhat pleasing nature, due to their short length they (and actually, this is also valid for the self-titled track) don’t feel necessary for the album, passing by like brief ditties.
Nevertheless,
Voodoo Highway should be regarded more as an artistic success, even though it is inferior to the Badlands debut. However, despite its apparent accomplishments, the album ended up being less successful commercially. And, taking into the account the tensions between the band members, the result was predictable: Gillen quit, the band took a pause at first, and ultimately broke up soon afterwards following the tragic death of the vocalist. Lee, in turn, fell off the radar of music aficionados. Still, regardless of the sad outcome, one thing should not be denied –
Voodoo Highway (together with its predecessor) is without a doubt an album that deserves more attention from genre enthusiasts than it’s got so far.
