Ray Gillen

5th Anniversary Memorial Tribute (SRS)
by Martin Popoff

Just beware, that’s all. Read the back cover carefully. I mean, there really hasn’t been much in the way of Ray Gillen output, exploitatively speaking. In total, we’ve had the two godly Badlands records, the posthumous Sun Red Sun record, recently the incredible third shelved Badlands record, and now this Sun Red Sun out-takes thing (there hasn’t been an official release of his Black Sabbath sessions. Yet.). But 5th Anniversary is just four tracks pumped up to a fake 12, rife with alternate versions, mixes, an instrumental, and an inane snippet of skidderish Gillen chatter which does nothing good for the man’s towering reputation. Still, like I say, you won’t go broke buying Ray material, so this is a necessary piece for the fan, also featuring an explanatory essay from Ray Romano, and a note that a portion of the proceeds will go to AIDS research. Oh yeah, and the music? Good to very good middle metal (tracks are “Hardlife,” “Outrageous,” “Lock Me Up,” and “I Know A Place”), classy, traditional, not hair banded, not bluesy like Badlands, but mostly fast and moderately regal.