Alcatrazz - Disturbing The Peace (1985)

Following their debut album in 1984, Alcatrazz were left without a guitarist leaving Graham Bonnet et al to consider the difficult question: just how do you replace Yngwie Malmsteen? The answer was to recruit ex-Frank Zappa guitarist Seve Vai! Keyboardist Jimmy Waldo’s eye for a talented guitarist – following a recommendation from Rainbow’s David Rosenthal – had not let Alcatrazz down as once again they had an incredibly talented guitarist on board and the band set about writing and recording their follow-up to No Parole From Rock N Roll.

Disturbing The Peace is a strong album with both Vai and Graham Bonnet putting in powerful performances. The album is a marked shift from their Malmsteen work with the distinctive style of Vai taking the band in a different direction of a more commercial edge with the rapid-fire soloing of Malmsteen replaced by Vai’s more harmonic style.

Kicking off with God Blessed Video – which was also a single – Bonnet takes a swipe at the Duran Duran era of music videos: “Some cheap kid from Birmingham blessed with an accent that pours like the darkest brown ale”! Impossibly high-ranged vocals, this uptempo opener features some trademark Vai soloing. Mercy is a bit of a non-entity but the thrid track, Will You Be Home Tonight is a standout track with Bonnet singing in an unusually low register minus the usual growl to his voice until the second verse when he can contain himself no longer and really lets rip! I’ve come across two differing statements from Bonnet as to the background for the track – one being it is dedicated to James Dean, the other that it was written about a fan that the band had heard about who had died in a car accident on the way home from one of the band’s gigs.

The album then gets a little bland for a couple of numbers until the all-out rock of Stripper kicks in at track 6 with a breakneck riff from Vai. Things again drift somewhat until Sons And Lovers, a medium paced melodic rock number with a good hook which is followed by Skyfire, one of the strongest tracks on the album, telling the story of a UFO incident Bonnet witnessed over his Malibu home.

Whilst much trepidation surrounded the post-Malmsteen Alcatrazz, this album turned out a near-cracker, not quite there but very good indeed, with Vai and Bonnet really giving it their all and proving equally as good as No Parole but in a different sound-scape. Unfortunately for Alcatrazz, Vai left following the Disturbing The Peace tour to join Dave Lee Roth but that’s another stony!

• Graham Bonnet – Vocals
• Steve Vai – Guitars
• Jimmy Waldo – Keyboards
• Gary Shea – Bass
• Jan Uvena – Drums