Fancy writing a review of any of Billy's albums, these guys did, why don’t you?

Growin' Up Too Fast review by Kevin DeWitz

Best Tracks: Baby's Got a Gun, Where Are You Now?, Baby Come Back

Crankin' review by Kevin DeWitz

Best Tracks: One More Night, Better Than You, London Calling

Shake review by Kevin DeWitz

Best Tracks: Goodbye Miracles, Friend, Walk Out

Shake review by Jason Pohlman

If you are fortunate enough to be familiar with Billy Rankin's work with Nazareth, be prepared to love this album, but leave your preconceptions at the door. This is not a Nazareth album, nor is it an album of an aging rocker struggling to reclaim (or coast on, or desperately and slavishly ape) past glories.

How to describe the overall sound? In the privacy of your own mind, imagine the Beatles in rocker mode or classic power pop of the 1970s and 80s (Cheap Trick's first few albums, the dB's, the Smithereens, the Plimsouls or Shoes) and give it 21st century production and sound. Now add a little rasp and fullness to the voice and remember to keep the harmonies intact. Now (and this is the important part), CRANK it through a Ted Nugent stack of Marshall amps with the volume turned to oh, 11 or 12. Now up the tempo a bit. Can you hear it? This stuff is heaven for hook and melody nuts who like music to annoy the neighbors with.

This is an upbeat, punchy, not-quite-metal-but-damn-rocking pop song with the most insidiously hooky melody and harmonies in captivity. It is a nicely bitter but friendly sounding song about lost or unrequited love that manages to sound vindictive without resorting to heavy metal misogyny. There's no lyric sheet - hint, hint - but I swear one punch line is "Gimme one of your lies about sticking your head in the oven tonight," and yet you still come away with the comforting impression that this guy truly loves women and will give it another shot anyway.

Warning: The very first time I played this sucker, it got stuck in heavy rotation in my head and nothing, but nothing could dislodge it for days. My lawyer suggests that monetary recompense for mental anguish is a worthy pursuit.

A straightforward raging rocker with insanely tuneful backing vocals. Reminds me of Aerosmith, but not really, with much more pop sense (In case you think of "pop" as a bad word, I mean it as tuneful and hooky, the stuff that makes you remember a song after only one listen, so there).

Another bitter one, slow with moody keyboards. Reminiscent (to these ears, anyway) of Billy Joel's "While the Night is Still Young" musically though with more rock power and crunching, yet subtle guitar chords. Possibly my favorite song on the album and deserving of "Dream On" (the Aerosmith one) or "Stairway to Heaven" status. Also annoyingly stuck in my head, and the lawyer is starting to drool.

A slow sweet ballad, and not even a power ballad, which I find an encouraging breath of fresh air. This song and "One in a Million" show that Billy isn't afraid to do love songs the right way - with all the yearning and tenderness and sugary keyboards intact. Exactly right, without a shred of mercenary phoniness or macho bullshit to nullify the effect. N'Sync wept.

Uh, don’t take this wrong, but this has an early ‘80s metal feel to it. Sorta like a Scorpions song with a non-histrionic singer. Which, come to think of it, is all the Scorpions were missing for me, so I appreciate this one. The production and sound is up to date, however. One of the lesser  efforts on the album, but a worthy one nonetheless.

Comes closest to reminding one that this guy was in Nazareth for quite a while. Nasty, grinding slow metal in a "No Mean City" or "Hair of the Dog" vein, but with clever flamenco style solos over the grunge and grind. Heavy, but with a defter touch and keener wit than the usual sludge associated with the style.

Speedy, itchy metallic song with a forceful vocal performance. Nice funky basswork. I don't know how, but this one got stuck in my head too. Lawyer getting positively rabid.

Just when you thought you'd kill yourself if you heard another power ballad... He pulls off a real winner here. This certainly is not one of those godawful 1980s hair band monstrosities. The most obviously retro song on this album (can't put my finger on it, but it takes me back to the mid 70s somehow. Alice Cooper?). It is truly tender and touching, but doesn't cheat to get to the power chords. All I can think is that Billy has certainly learned from a thing or two from Nazareth, who were previously the only folks that could get away with such stuff.

A not quite successful stab at funk. I have way more Sly Stone and George Clinton in my collection than any white boy I know, but I ain't swallowing this. Somehow I don't hear the confidence and surefootedness of the rest of the album, and I suspect my trouble is the clean, polished sound (I can almost smell the dirty sheets when funk is done right - cf. James Brown or Funkadelic). It sounds somehow compromised and tentative, but I find it pleasant and enjoyable nonetheless. I would suggest that Billy throw himself wholeheartedly into this stuff if he tries it again - and I hope he does try.

Another clever, melodic rocker and the lawyer is drawing up papers now. What's that line about the dyke in Hollywood Hills? I can see folks dancing to this one more than "Walk Out," oddly enough. Shake indeed.

This one would sound at home on "Growin’ Up Too Fast," and if you don’t have that one, why not? Pleasant, undemanding pop rock. Reminds this kid of (sorry) Bryan Adams, but in a good way. Rather conventional and undemanding, but I don’t find myself hitting "skip" when it comes on. A keeper.

See "Take My Hand" above, to save space. Very nice.

Oops, I was wrong before, this is my favourite. Starts off like fast 70's prog rock stripped down to very loud electric guitar, bass and drums, then kicks into fast scratchy acoustic tunefulness with sweet harmonies that just gave my lawyer a fatal coronary, letting Billy off the hook. Quite heartfelt sounding lyrics, too. This is the kind of thing that should teach pups like Enuff Z'Nuff how to make metal go "pop."

Billy’s 1979 demo of the Naz classic. I was somewhat dumbfounded by the phenomenal success of Nazareth’s version – I thought there were much stronger songs on 2XS. This version, however, coming from someone not yet out of his teens, and sounding like it with its aura of teenage uncertainty, suits the touching naiveté of the lyric and melody quite perfectly. The lack of production gloss and over - overdubbing is a big help. A "bonus track" that is truly a bonus.

I don't know what you're talking about. "Dream On" was the last song on the album, wasn't it? This nonexistent sucker rocks insistently like a sonofabitch, though and would be a fitting capper if it did in fact exist.

All in all, this is the best new album I've heard in quite some time, and rather than see this as a comeback, I would prefer to think of Shake as a promising harbinger of great and satisfying things to come. Thanks, Billy, and keep up the fantastic work!

Rock on,

Jason

Shake review by Jens Leopold

Hereby my short review of the album:

All-in-all excellent guitar works with Billy-typical voice. Especially the ballads made a deep impression on me and "stayed" in my ears.

BONUS Dream On delights with marvellous singing - didn't know that Billy was the creator of this all-time-great!

BONUS after the BONUS was surpriseful but lucky.

My favourites: Colour my love, One in a million, Money & Girls.

Shake rulez

Jens.

Shake review by Emil Gammeltoft

And now Billy boy...

Yes, the new CD is amazing! I am impressed of the material herein and would like to say Good Luck to Billy and hope this can lead to something bigger than to release it independent. The opening song "Goodbye Miracles" is a HIT! and this makes me a little bit angry cause I know if Bryan Adams should have done that song it would be his comeback to the charts definitively. Standout songs are most songs (just like most of you has mentioned before) and I love it. Just heard it three times so I will not say more now but it is far better than both Move me and No Jive for me in the song writing department anyway. And I like Billy’s new raspier voice....

Crankin' & Shake reviewed by Nick Clarkson

Let's start at he beginning, I'm not a Naz fan, I don't own anything by them and the last thing I ever heard by them was "This Flight Tonight" which I thought was a pretty cool song (musta been as I can still remember the title), but never investigated further, so I am unfamiliar with Billy's work with the band. I first got into Billy when I read the review of the album "Growin' up too Fast" in Kerrang! (see elsewhere this site), that was when Kerrang! was a rock mag and not fashion rag! Bought the album, great, saw the video (once!!), and that was it, ships that pass in the night. The album still got played on a regular basis whereas other albums from that era ended up in bargin bins at second hand stores and Help the Aged! I always wondered what happened to the guy and guessed he just stayed doing Naz stuff!
Forward to November 2000... I'm at work reading an old copy of my mates Classic Rock magazine.... says Billy Rankin has a new album out called "Shake"... Oooh a website, straight in and check it out. O.K. There's Shake and an album called Crankin' too (what have I been missing). Right get 'em both ordered lets check them out...

First up is Crankin'(for some reason I kept calling it Crank ..Doh!) as soon as you slam it in the CD tray you just know that this is gonna be a special album. "Come on Boys" is the lead off track, it's a pretty neat rocker and it's followed by the infectious pop/rock of "One More Night" by now you'll be groovin' and if you're not then check yer pulse!! The spooky/quirky "London Calling" is next which is well cool. This is a really fantastic album. I'm grinning like an idiot as the songs fly past too darn quick!!! "Get me Outta Here" is another rocker with a magic stuttering riff leading into the song, "You Don't Have To Go" with its smooth mid paced AOR feel to it is a total winner. "Crankin Up The Handle" the penultimate track rocks it out before the ballad "Oh Rose" closes the album nice and atmospherically (but not quite as atmospheric as the crowd singing at the end of Growin Up Too Fast which still sends a kinda shiver down my spine after all these years). Hmmm!! go over it again...it's too hard to pick out favourite songs so I won't. Right rubbing my hands with glee (always keep a tube handy), it's straight on to "Shake".

"Shake" spot on title coz you will!!! What you gonna do when the hurricane hits you?? It has and I love it. The first two tracks "Goodbye Miracles" (thanks Shake) and "Nobody Home" fly through the speakers and groove like nothing should be allowed to in this day and age before "Hammer Comes Down" introduces itself and lets you get your breath back with its mellower, yet strange vibes... brill!! "Take My Hand" is a monster ballad, you get the feeling that half the AOR wannbes these days would give their right nut for a song this good!!
This album is proving to be better than Crankin' and I loved that, next up is "Friend" another fierce riff which delights me in weaving it's way through the song. "Nobody Calls Me That" has a kinda dark feel about it. "Do It", finds Billy pulling off lyrical acrobatics in a fashion that is usually the domain of Steven Tyler, this track is the buisness.... time for the air guitar again!! This is stupid..... I can't find any duff songs on this CD.... next up is "Colour of my Love" which has a kind of jazzy funky chillin' out feel about it as does, to an extent "One in a Million" later on. "Money and Girls" and "One in a Million" again on the rockier side, but as always the melody is not sacrificed as a result, which seems to be a talent a great many bands of today have lost, they either go all dumb metal, or wash over everything with keyboards until it's limper than Liberace's wrist!. "Get Inside You", finishes the album in fine style. Oh! hang on there's a 1979 demo of "Dream On" which is the last track...... or is it? Buy the album and find out.

So there you go! Two brilliant albums which highlight the immense talent of that chap Billy Rankin, two of the best albums I've bought this year at that!! It amazes me that albums of this quality have to be distributed with no major backing. It's pitiful that record companies are too busy sticking their heads so far up their backsides looking for more homogenous cr*p to fill the charts with -(and earn a quick buck), that proper talent/music takes a backseat, it sucks and it's killing music... no wonder kids today prefer Playstations!!

Rock on Billy... give it 'em!

Billy Rankin is all grown up now.

Growin' Up Too Fast review by Mike Schatz

Growin' Up Too Fast was Billy Rankin's very first solo album. It's hard to believe it's been 25 years since it's release. Billy had just left Nazareth a short time before the album was released. Growin' Up Too Fast yielded a top 40 hit in the US for him with Baby Come Back.

Baby Come Back has a really catchy beat. It's one of those kinds of songs you can't help but like. It's a simple and yet danceable tune. Even 25 years later, it's still got an appeal. Rip It Up, a rocker that puts Rankin in his element. There's some great guitar playing here. It's a much better version of the song than the version that ended up on Nazareth's 1994 Move Me album. Think I'm In Love is a lightweight song that will make you want to put on your dancing shoes and going out with your best girl. Where Are You Now was originally on Nazareth's 1983 album Sound Elixir. (he recorded that album just before leaving the band) Rankin's solo version is by far the better one. Billy's singing fits the song better and the music also gives the song more emotion than the original. Baby's Got A Gun has a really groovy guitar riff. It's heavy and danceable at the same time. Never In A Million Years offers some terrific guitar licks and a thumping beat. It's also a very danceable tune. Call Me Automatic is a melodic barnburner. It's a very catchy tune with Rankin's signature guitar sound. A Day In The Life almost sounds like something the Beatles could have done. The song has a great little harmony. Billy's singing is very enjoyable. I Wanna Be Alone Tonight is a very simple tune with an easygoing melody, nice guitar work and catchy chorus. Burning Down, a smokin' ballad is the best tracks on the album. Rankin' sure knows how to writing these great melodic rock songs. This particular song was re-recorded in 1994 for Nazareth's album. Once again Billy's version is without a doubt the better one. The song not only offers some of Rankin's best guitar work on this album but also songwriting and singing. It's brilliant!

For a first solo album it's not a bad effort at all. It's full of great melodies. It's also very radio friendly. Billy is all grown up now but I'm sure that when he thinks back on his life and all the people he's met, the things he's done, the bands he's played with, he's got loads of fond memories. He probably thinks of his first solo album lovingly like a first child. Well done, Billy! Congratulations on the album's 25 anniversary.