Customer Reviews

Invasion

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Invasion was the debut album from Vinnie Vincent's post-KISS band Vinnie Vincent Invasion. Vincent, of course, joined KISS after Ace Frehley's departure for the Creatures of the Night tour. His Egyptian pharaoh persona included an Ankh painting on his face. He is also featured on the first un-masking album Lick It Up. Vinnie, however, wanted to be the next guitar hero and even tried to upstage Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons during a show at Long Beach Arena, California with a 7-minute plus guitar solo that saw no signs of ending until the rest of the patient-worn band re-joined him on stage. It was not a good idea to try and become bigger than the founders of the band and soon, Paul and Gene would let Vinnie know his services were no longer needed. With his ambitions and ego, Vinnie needed a band with his name as the forefront...thus formed Vinnie Vincent Invasion.

Invasion is full of speedy rock songs with blazing guitar riffs. Actually, there is much creativity in Vincent's guitar solos. Many of them sound like sirens and bombs (appropriate for the "Invasion"). As far as any "invasion" on the metal world, there is not much revolutionary on this album. Robert Fleischman has a powerful voice (with Vinnie providing backing vocals on "Back on the Streets") and, of course, the musicianship is excellent, but much of the music is just straight forward heavy rock `n roll like "Boyz are Gonna Rock," "Shoot U Full of Love," and "Do You Wanna Make Love." It even sports a sappy romantic track in "No Substitute." "Back on the Street" is another slower, radio-friendly track. "Baby-O" is a little too sappy for my tastes. "I Wanna Be Your Victim" is one of the better, heavier tracks. The one stand-out track is saved for last. "Invasion" blew me away. Despite the sexy lyrics, "Invasion" is, musically, more of a serious metal track. It does not have the good time rock `n roll sound of most of the other songs. I include "Invasion" on most of my metal compilation tapes. The one unfortunate part, however, is the 3-minute repetitive siren sounds at the end of it. At first I thought there was something wrong with my copy but, no, they meant it to be that way (now I know how Paul and Gene must have felt). If Vinnie thought it would be impressive, he failed. A computer could have taken one riff and repeated it continuously for all I know (it is THAT repetitive and annoying). Still, it is easy to fade it out.

In defense of Vinnie Vincent's guitar abilities that are criticized by a previous reviewer, even Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons wrote in KISStory that Vincent was a "ferocious guitarist" and that "98% of the population has no idea how talented a player Vinnie is" (p. 357). He may not have become the household name he hoped to be, but he could/can play a blazing guitar solo.

Back when this came out in 1986, I liked it, but there was just something not right about the way it sounded. The guitars plain overpowered EVERYTHING. The drums sounded like they were recorded outside in the hall with one mic, the bass was almost inaudible, and the vocals sounded as if they were underwater. What a way to sabotage your first album by making yourself the only thing that stands out, and even with that, the guitar sounded like it was played thru some cheapo starter Gorilla amp. This 2003 remaster has corrected all of these problems and sounds almost as if it was recorded yesterday, making the songs sound so much better than they did. I must congratulate whoever re-did this mix since now the drums are crisp and clear, the bass shines thru even when Vinnie is shredding during his solos, and Fleischman's vocals are CLEAR and INTELLIGIBLE! This is definitely worth getting just to show what a different mix can do for an album.

As for the songs... well, if you're reading this, you probably already know them, so I won't convince you one way or the other of how good or bad they are. That's all subjective anyway. I personally believe that Vinnie was a great songwriter with an incredible sense of melody (his solos, though, were moreso speed for speed's sake) and now that these songs sound so crisp and clear, it's like I'm hearing them again for the first time. If you are a fan of the album, do yourself a favor and get this incredible remaster, even though I'd say it's more accurate to call it a remix. You will NOT be disappointed.

As I finish writing this, I am listening to the song ANIMAL and still can't believe how much better this sounds than the original LP/CD version. There is just so much I've never heard before thanks to how clean everything now sounds. Simply amazing!

Vinnie Vincent is a really good guitarist, and seemed like the perfect talent to build a band around. With a high profile launch from KISS, Vincent should have been able to parlay his guitar wizardry into mainstream success. Unfortunately, Vincent's songwriting ability was the chink in his metal armor. None of the songs featured here are awful...but they aren't that great either. Take the least memorable song from the "Lick It Up" album by KISS and multiply it by 10. The tunes are all pretty pedestrian, and while the guitar tracks are really good, there really isn't enough difference between Vincent's shredding, and what was available on hundreds of hair metal releases coming out at the same time. If you are a hair metal fan, you may enjoy popping this in every now and again, but it's not going to become a heavy favorite. But for under $10, it may be worth it just to escape from today's over-produced, under performed junk from the latest American Idol winner.

I already owned the original version... I just figured I would give the remaster a try after reading some reviews on here. Honestly, I still prefer the original master. Yes, the guitars were louder on that and the other instruments a touch less clear. Oh well... it IS metal and it IS all about the guitars. Hearing the other things more clearly is interesting, but if the guitars take a hit for it, in the end, I think it is not an improvement. That said, this is not as bad as other remasters such as the Megadeth remasters of Youthanasia and Countdown to Extinction which I think were far far worse than their originals (same concept, sucking the life out of the guitars to boost everything else). Anyway, if you already own this CD I see no reason to buy it again as this is not a significant improvement over the original mastering. The packaging and such is also nothing special. If you don't own the album... then absolutely buy it because it is a great album and Vinnie is and was always really unique. I love his over the top style of leads... it is a shame he hasnt done more work through the years! It is just a little bit of a shame that remastering is overused to imply improving... there is something said for the ear of the engineers in the 80s... I think they were better than the modern ones who try to do everything and compress everything and make everything stand out clear even at the detriment to the overall mix. Sometimes it is right for one instrument to be way out front of others... it is an art that has been lost in the mechanical approach to mastering and production these days.

Anyone who says there's too much guitar on a Vinnie Vincent album doesn't understand the man.

He shows no restraint, and it's a good thing. They watered him down a bit on the 2nd CD, but this one is the bomb. The original vocalist (Rob Fleischman who left due to scheduling difficulties) kicks Mark Slaughter's a**. Sadly, I don't think Rob ever played a show with VVI. At least he recorded an amazing album before he had to leave.

There are some amazing examples of hot riffs & heavy metal song writing on this CD. The only track I could take or leave is "Twisted"... so 9 out of ten is 5 stars in my book.

The guitar tones are raw, the vocals are perfect, and the songs are super-catchy. If you're a fan of shred, put this CD on and kick back... it's a thrill ride. We can only hope he does something like this one more time.

Ok, it was the 80's and cheese metal was everywhere. VVI fit right in and you at least had to check them out if you were a Kiss fan. The music is pretty good and the vocals are over the top but overall this is just a fun nostalgia trip fro me. It takes me back to a place in time when I didn't over analyze everything music related.

This sucks soooo! bad! but I laugh out loud every time I hear the crappy (Boys are going to rock) words

This is Vinnie Vincent at his best. Better than with Kiss....and better than hi second solo album all systems go (whcih i got first) I got this 7 years later and it is THE BEST. Very..."drive your red convertable nice and fast to the beach" kinda music. Cranking guitars.....gang vocals,,,,high pitch singing. It's got it all...and the look! purple pink and neon. worth the price

Boyz are Gonna Rock was a theme song for my high school swim team. We used to listen to the song just before leaving the bus before the meet. I have searched Amazon in the past for the album, but it was not available. Today, I pulled it down as an mp3 and wow! Just like old times. I have not heard this song for almost 20 years and I remembered every word. Many thanks to amazon for getting the album available for download. You just reminded me how fast I am getting older, but brought a smile to my face in doing so.

I bought this album when it was released in 1986. I don't think the metal world was ready for this - is it glam, is it thrash, what is it? Vinnie really let loose his pent-up frustrations, and metal is better off for it. This album was great then and would still be great if released today; the songs have held up quite well. Highlights are:

Boyz Are Gonna Rock - love the intro, and solid bass (and who can forget that crazy video)
Shoot U Full of Love - what a sleazy guitar riff!
Substitute - nice "ballad", really showcases Vinnie's songwriting talent
Animal - absolute rocking intro, plus killer solo (but aren't they all)
Back on the Streets - a bit more tame, probably written when Vinnie was still in Kiss

This band could've/would've been huge if not for their all-too-quick demise in 1988. And since then Vinnie has mostly been a non-factor in the music scene, which is a real shame considering his amazing talent. Let's hope Vinnie eventually comes out of hibernation to contribute more to the metal world. Until then, I'll keep this disc spinning in perpetuity, MADE 2 B PLAYED AT MAXIMUM VOLUME.