Night Ranger kick off their 12th studio album ATBPO (ie “And the band kept playing”). The band started writing this series of songs in early 2020 as the global pandemic increased. Each player – Jack Blades, Kelly Keagy, Brad Gillis, Eric Levy, and Keri Kelli – went to the studio separately to complete this 2017 sequel Don’t let up. You’d never tell the difference because ATBPO this band will surely ‘keep playing’ as a collective rocking entity.
From the heavy pounding of the opener “Coming For You” to Gillis and Kelli who deliver the almost classic Night Ranger double guitar riffing and Keagy who growls through the lead vocals on “Breakout” and “Monkey”, this is the Night Ranger that we have all come to love and have been relied on since 1979. The quintet even delivers a great power ballad hymn “Dance” in the middle of the album, which sounds like it was plucked from the heavy MTV rotation of the 1980s. Another ballad, “The Hardest Road,” seems to be speaking particularly at this time and presents the best harmonies between Blades and Keagy on all of them ATBPO.
In addition to their dense selection of hits like “Sister Christian”, “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me” and “(You Can Still) Rock In America”, Night Ranger delivers a variety of harmonic rockers and ballads on this album . As always, the five-man only snaps out pop-rock songs as if it were the easiest thing in the world – as if they were just “driving a car” and finding them on the edge of the rock music street.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
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