Customer Reviews

Storm 2

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Storm II represents a solid step forward for this hard to classify hard rock band. Fronted by Jeanette Chase with Benatar pipes, you might think this will stick with the Babe Ruth sound - one screaming rocker after the other. Think again. Tracks 1 and 4 (Settle Down and Hand In Hand) could easily be late period Renaissance. The non-LP ballad, If It's True, is lovely and shows off her range - think Kate Bush with a stronger band. Lear Stevens on guitar has all the licks but most of the time he keeps to the melody making for an ear-friendly experience. Even their mainstream power ballad, Come Home, is great (similar to Journey when they hit it right). There is something endearing about the 80s, twenty short years after the Beatles changed popular music forever. Equipment got better. Production got a lot better. Texturing and over-dubbing became the norm. Storm was ahead of its time. Both CDs with bonus tracks are highly recommended.

Over produced multi tracked guitars reminiscent of Brian May..belted out female vocals ala Benatar..booming Bonham like drums..Sweet-like vocal harmonies....and yep..i love it! Lost in the 80's shuffle..Storm made a lot of noise and got no attention! Too bad. This is the 2nd outing..and in my opinion..the better of the 2.(although 'Machine Gun" off the 1st was a Killer!). Rumors of a 3rd have been mentioned..fingers are crossed!

California-based rockers Storm (not to be confused with the later Journey spinoff band) released their second album in 1983. Like the first Storm album it was self-titled, but is now considered Storm 2. Storm was a pop/rock band that featured powerhouse female vocalist Jeanette Chase and her guitar hotshot husband Lear Stevens.

Storm's sound is hard to classify. Heart and Pat Benatar are obvious choices, because there weren't all that many female-fronted rock bands at the time. Storm sounds more British though, and clearly drew major influence from bands like Led Zeppelin and the Sweet, and maybe Queen. Like the first album, Storm 2 sounds almost like a `70s glam rock record, but there's a real hard rocking energy here. Chase's voice seems more powerful, and the guitars have a harder edge this time around and less of the first Storm album's poppiness.

If you're a fan of female-fronted rock bands, glam rock, and/or late `70s and early `80s pop/rock, especially bands like the Sweet, Heart and Pat Benatar, you'll want to check out this lost gem, especially now that it has been reissued.

Edition Notes: Storm 2 was reissued in 2006 by Rock Candy, which is (I believe) the first time the album has been released on CD. In addition to Rock Candy's usual superb quality digital remastering and (very) extensive liner notes, Storm 2 features six previously unreleased demo recordings as bonus tracks.