The Nature Of The Beast

April Wine | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 25, 1991)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B000008CXT
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,267 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: APRIL WINE
Title: NATURE OF THE BEAST
Street Release Date: 04/13/1991
Domestic
Genre: ROCK/POP

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Veteran Canadian Band That Most American Rock Fans Know..., June 29, 2004

By 

Robert J. Schneider (Tacoma, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Nature Of The Beast (Audio CD)

...for only one song. The power ballad "Just Between You & Me" was by far the most-played song by April Wine on American radio in the early 1980's. Played mainly on the hard rock stations, the single went up to about #60 or so on the Billboard charts. The album, THE NATURE OF THE BEAST (1981)---not to be confused with British metallers Iron Maiden's 1982 release THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST---briefly broke the American Top 40. Considering how good it is, it should have done even better!

This album starts out with a clear modern-sounding '80's tinge with "All Over Town," a brief (3-minute), medium-paced, surprising hybrid of Hard Rock/New Wave that sounds jarringly different for April Wine. Not great, but somewhat catchy. The next track, "Tellin' Me Lies," follows pretty much in the same vein: Again, it is a 3-minute medium-paced HR/NW song; however, it is very repetitive and not one of April Wine's better songs.

At this point, you're thinking the rest of the album's gonna be quite lame, but---ah!---things immediately get better with the more Wine-like, evocative "Sign Of The Gypsy Queen." At nearly 4:30, it is the longest track on this rather short album, and it is wonderful: Beginning with a brisk-paced Hard Rock/Heay Metal instrumental intro theme, Myles Goodwin gives a melodic and emotional performance as he sings about a town that was predicted for doom & destruction by a local Gypsy Queen. The song features a slow, two-minute instrumental mid-section in which Myles plays bluesy guitar notes, before returning to the final verse/chorus that speeds back up again. The song really paints a picture; indeed, you can see a desert town somewhere out West, under darkening skies, with people trying to escape a coming storm on horseback. The song never fails to give me chills to this day, and is still one of AW's all-time greatest! Then comes the equally-good "Just Between You & Me": The album's lone hit, it is a beautiful melodic power ballad that features early-'70's-type fuzzbox guitar from Myles Goodwyn, who is every bit as talented a guitarist as he is a singer. I love the French lyrics in the final chorus repitition! The bass-playing by Gary Moffet is slow, pronounced and deep---evocative of the sadness associated with lost love. The drums by bald, bearded Jerry Mercer are slow but contain a certain upbeatness on the verses. Again, one of this band's greatest songs ever!

"Wanna Rock" is a fast, very short (2:06) electronic-sounding combo of bluesy Hard Rock with a New Wave beat. As cheesy as it has been described as being by a previous reviewer, it is actually kind of catchy. When I play songs from this album, I usually play it. "Caught In The Crossfire" is like a great Sci-Fi story set to music, and is extremely well-done. "Future Tense" keeps up the Sci-Fi bent, and is not as good as the previous track but still okay. But then, AW hit gold on THE NATURE OF THE BEAST's final four songs, beginning with "Big City Girls," their ode to "ladies in the night" which has a crunching guitar riff that sounds vaguely similar to the Scorpions' "Big City Nights" (which, by the way, was not recorded until 1984, so April Wine had the idea first). Then comes the speed-Metal (yes, you read that right) of "Crash And Burn," a two-and-a-half-minute explosion of fuzz-guitar riffs and one incredible solo by Myles himself (as good of a guitarist as Brian Greenway was, Myles' guitar is what dominates throughout most of this set). "Bad Boys" has a Bad Company-ish hard guitar riff and some good lyrics about a guy trying to leave a life of gangs for the girl he loves. Lastly, Song #11 is the very hard, upbeat & positive anthem "One More Time" which ends this great album on a multi-layered note, consisting of great work by all three guitarists in this incredible band.

What else can I say? April Wine is one of the greatest unsung veteran Hard Rock/Heavy Metal bands in history, and THE NATURE OF THE BEAST is probably their all-time greatest album.

MOST RECOMMENDED

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of music's most underrated bands, September 6, 2004

By 

Gitters (Allendale, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Nature Of The Beast (Audio CD)

I would say for the most part April Wine is pretty much unknown to a lot of people in the U.S., and it's not because they aren't a good band, they just didn't get the kind of attention or promotion that they deserved. Released in 1981 and a minor hit in America The Nature of the Beast is one of the 80's best rock albums, that people don't know about. Out of the ten songs on the album six of the songs are always fresh in my head. The ballad Just Between You and Me may be one of April Wine's best known songs over here in the U.S., but don't dismiss as a wussy 80's band turning about ballads all of the time. There are plenty of rockers on The Nature of The Beast. Songs like All over Town, Sign of the Gypsy Queen, and Wanna Rock show that these boys know how to rock.If you can find the album pick it up. You may not have heard of the album before, but I'd say it's more to due with Capitol records not promoting their artists very well, than the album or band not being very well.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars April Wine's Best, September 22, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Nature Of The Beast (Audio CD)

This is April Wine's best album ever. "All Over Town" and "Tellin' Me Lies" are radio-friendly hard-rock-pop tunes; "Sign Of the Gypsy Queen", "Caught In The Crosssfire", "Future Tense", and "Crash And Burn" are dark rockers with cautionary overtones; "Just Between You And Me" is a pure power ballad; and "Big City Girls" and "Bad Boys" are street-scene stories. This is clearly one of the best rock albums of the 80's.