REVIEW: House of Lords – Sahara (1990)

 

By request of reader WARDY!

scan_20161010HOUSE OF LORDS – Sahara (1990 BMG)

House of Lords put out an impressive debut but didn’t sell a lot of copies.  When the second album rolled out in 1990, their guitarist Lanny Cordola was gone and in was new guy Michael Guy.  Although Guy is credited on guitar, in reality the album was recorded with Doug Aldrich and a number of guests.  Weirdly, thanked in the credits for “additional inspiration” is Nick Simmons, who was one year old at the time.  Sahara was of course on Simmons Records.

It’s a different sounding House, less regal but with more hooks per acre.  The opening number “Shoot” draws liberally from the wells of both Led Zeppelin and Motley Crue.  “Chains of Love” is Coverdale-lite, with singer James Christian pouring on as much sass as possible, but without Coverdale’s sly nods and winks.  Whoever is playing the guitar solo on “Chains of Love” laid down a killer.

The acoustic cover “Can’t Find My Way Home” (Blind Faith) is pretty true to the original minus the falsetto, and would have to be one of the better power ballads from a rock band in 1990.  House of Lords turn a serious corner on “Heart on the Line”, which sounds like a title for a ballad.  This however is a speed racer, a chugging riff powering a rock-corker, which turns Cheap Trick on the chorus.  Unsurprisingly, it was written by Rick Neilsen.  Brilliant playing and soloing on this one.  Then they rip off a song title from Coverdale himself, “Laydown Staydown”.  Winger-esque sleeze rock is all this is, not even touching the brilliance of the Deep Purple song that inspired the title.

A much more impressive track opens side two, “Sahara”.  This is progressive hard rock, with drummer Ken Mary layering a tribal drum effect that would have been very ahead of its time in 1990.  This too degenerates into something more Winger-like as well, but it jumps from that back into more progressive sections, keeping things balanced and interesting.  The second slot on side two is predictably another ballad, a good one called “It Ain’t Love”.  Not just the title, but the gang chorus reminds of Dokken.  Some fine soloing resides here to sink your fangs into.

The lead single was another power ballad, “Remember My Name”, which the band did not write.  As an impressionable youth in 1990, I hated this single.  “Never lead with a ballad,” was my thinking.  I had been looking forward to new House of Lords since the debut slayed me in ’88.  I didn’t want the first song to be a ballad they didn’t write.  I still don’t think it’s a very good track.  And surely a mistake to include it on the CD right before another ballad.  “American Babylon” redeems it, coming back with a strong push.  “Kiss of Fire” nails it with the knockout punch at the end, a blazing smoker with powerful keyboards that remind us of vintage Deep Purple.  Finally it seems House of Lords nailed a song that lived up to their inspirations.

Perhaps it was the rotating cast of characters on guitar, but Sahara drifts further from the sound that made House of Lords unique in 1988. The danger of grasping for hits while taking their sound deeper in the mainstream was real. Though it is still an entertaining listen, Sahara is very uneven which makes it a bumpy ride.

3/5 stars

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26 comments

  1. Funnily enough I liked the track you put up here but I found the debut just too wimpy for my tastes.

    The top of that sword looks a bit like a man thingy! gave me a bit of a start when I was scrolling down!

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        1. Maybe just “Ding Dong”. Subtlety.

          Ali G used to call it a “bellend”. First time I ever heard that. He wrote “Saddam Hussein is a bellend” on the Secretary General’s notepad at the United Nations :)

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  3. Cool Mike thanks for getting this one out there.

    Less bumpy fer my own ears but otherwise ya covered things nicely. Man I loved that Remember My Name but not getting airplay at the time DownUnder wasn’t aware it was first single and was only ever a deep n’ tasty track fer me so fair call.

    The only thing that ever really bothered me about this one was the fact two of its strongest tunes (those covered by Mike above) were indeed covers and being the stickler for original material I am that kinda stunk at the time LOL.

    Still, love this one over the debut and it’s followup and would easily call it a 3.5 :)

    Cheers Mike!

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    1. Hey Wardy! The way I remember things, I seem to think Demons Down was a bit stronger than Sahara? That’s the next review to tackle; and then I’m done because I don’t have any of the later House of Lords albums. (AT one point or another you have to decide how much you care about a band with one original member.)

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  4. Last time you posted about these guys I was taken by the hair. They look awfy serious. I didn’t notice that before.

    Not sure I’m taken by this one either, though (though I guess you aren’t completely sold on it either). It does say an awfy lot about the state of the ol’ rock music that one of the better power ballads is a cover.

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  8. The cover of “Can’t Find My Way Home” is quite possibly my all time favorite cover! At the time, I didn’t know it was a cover. It was about a year or two later when I started listening to music from older bands that I figured it out.

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  9. I, on the other hand, will never be convinced that “Remember My Name” is anything but a towering ballad achievement of pure pomp majesty. It’s a perennial favourite of mine.

    The video is a monster and looks like a dry run for Michael Bay’s “I’d Do Anything for Love” with less fat dudes.

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