Customer Reviews

Alligator

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album is fantastic! I bought it expecting it to be mostly guitar like BG's first solo effort. Not so! This album definitely has an emphasis on song writing. The songs are powerful and melodic. The quality of the production is almost perfect. You can hear all of the instruments, the vocals don't get drowned. It's just great, heavy, fun music. Brad Gillis shows off his technique with class.

I love this cd, and highly recommend it to any guitar fan.

Made in ITA, Serial# FRCD-081, Playing Time 48:51

This is BG's second solo effort, and is a significant departure from his first, more guitar-driven, album "Gilrock Ranch".

With a title like "Alligator" you'd expect power, music with a crunch (get it?) Well, this album is fairly tame, and a bit flat.

The emphasis is more on "songs" than what I expected, and the guitar work is generally average (but there are some great moments.)

Fairly uneven in its enthusiasm across the 10 tracks, and more radio-friendly than its predecessor, I was mostly disappointed: not that I expected a NIGHT RANGER album (which it isn't), but there's nothing on here that's really outstanding, except maybe for the title cut.

Enjoyable overall, except perhaps through the almost instrumental "Tanbark Tyrant" with some children's "la-la-la" vocals, it still remains a valiant effort.

Brad Gillis, yet again, produces another blistering hot solo album. It's been too many years since "Gilrock Ranch" was released but this wonderfully crafted masterpiece (called "Alligator") was well worth the wait!

Gillis continues to amaze me with his spiritual style of guitar playing. Whether it's slow and melancholy or an all out rocker, his playing absolutely sings! And with Gary Moon on vocals, you've a combination that can't be beat. Moon's savvy crooning adds a nice, sexy touch to this fabulous piece of work! Go Brad!

If you're thinking about getting this CD, don't hesitate!

"Alligator" is the second and latest to date solo album of American guitar hero Brad Gillis, originally released in 2000 by "Frontiers" records. Brad Gillis, an established guitar prodigy having served as Ozzy's axeman in 1981 while also enjoying mainstream success throughout the 80s as a member of AOR/ melodic rock sensation "Night ranger".

"Alligator" released at a time when "Nightranger" were inactive featured beyond the guitarist, "Nightranger" drummer/vocalist Kelly Keagy and lead singer Gary Moon who had sung on the band's 1995 album. So apart from being a Gillis solo album, "Alligator" could easily be categorized as a `Nightranger" side-project. Still the overall sound is not quite the typical "...Ranger" style; For that matter the album is strongly guitar oriented while leaving the polished AOR sound for a thicker, totally hard rocking production.

There is an emphasis on guitar riffs and solos as well as choruses, being a huge plus for the album. On "Alligator" Brad uncovers a great deal of his technique, vibrato based shredding/soloing proving once again a genuine talent of the instrument. In particular I would go as far as saying that the song "Eyes" has one of the greatest guitar solo ever throwing impossible vibrato harmonics and speeding melodies. Other strong melodic hard rockers are "Circle of light" and "Heart shaped wings".

Overall "Alligator" is a must for "Nightranger" fans as well as enthusiast of hard rock guitarist/songwriter albums like Gary Moore,John Sykes Kane Roberts and Paul Sabu.

Any music lover will love this album! This is the highly anticipated follow-up to Brad's first solo album, Gilrock Ranch, which has become a benchmark for guitar and music lovers worldwide. Alligator teams up Brad with vocalist/lyricist Gary Moon (Night Ranger)once again with outstanding results. Brad is able to spread his wings on his own and produce an emotionally packed, musically flawless album. I highly recommend it!