Hey,
good to hear back from you.
Yeah, I love what Earthshaker do and have done. I've seen in concert more
than once and they are great!
Well, albums to recommend. Tough one. I think Fugitive and Midnight Flight
are two of the best five they have done. Since then:
Passion:
Began to sound a bit more commercial, but some really good rocking stuff.
"The Night We Had" is phenomenal, never heard anything like it, the album
is worth getting just for that song! RECOMMENDED.
Live
In Budokan
Excellent live album, most of the great songs. Occasionally sounds a little
"light" as when Shara starts soloing there is only the bass keeping the
sound up, but a fantastic live album. RECOMMENDED.
Overrun:
Keyboards introduced big time and they went commercial. Imagine the more
commercial numbers on midnight flight with keyboards. Three or four very
nice, catchy, singalong numbers. I like the album a lot, but if you want
"fugitive" and no keyboards then leave it.
Aftershock
Now they added a permanent keyboard player to the lineup, Toshi. They kinda
lost direction a bit here, two or three good songs but no great ones. Missable.
Smash:
A mixed album; one or two fantastic songs (Pierrot), several mediocre.
Unfortunately Pierrot is not on any greatest hits or live album. So-So.
Treachery
Very interesting as they started experimenting with sequencers, with some
interesting results. Three great songs and another two good ones. The first
three tracks all work fantastically, then it meanders until "Criminal"
which is quite beautiful, with a solo on acoustic guitar. There is a real
change in guitar style though, less tuneful and more technical and experimental,
as a Shara fan it took some gettig used to! RECOMMENDED.
Pretty
Good
They went back to basics, toned down the keyboard, and this was rather
disappointing. One catchy number, one good time rock (like "Drive Me Crazy")
and the rest is forgetable.
Earthshaker
Keyboards toned down even more, mostly mid tempo riff oriented songs. The
guitar work is great, very raw and gutsy, but the songs are a bit samey,
they lack catchy hooks and choruses, you feel Marcy isn't trying. Poison
is a good catchy number with fantastic guitar, there's a couple of very
atmospheric numbers.... a change of influence. Good but not Fugitive!
Real
Their heaviest ever. Opens with a 200mph belter, all in English, followed
by the incredibly sinister Labyrinth. A couple of other very memorable
songs, RECOMMENDED.
Yesterday
and Tomorrow
All their most popular tracks of the past decade rerecorded, some very
differently from the original. Good but not great.
More
A couple of new songs, then a recording of a live gig in Vancouver. New
songs are not worth the album, so worth getting once you have caught up!
Birthday
The reunion album, back as a foursome. OK but not great.
Earthshaker
Type A
Again the old hits rerecorded. Better than the last time they did this,
and a better choice of material ! Sound wise they are quite close to Fugitive
again.
Unknown
(title is in Japanese)
Their latest, very good, similar sound to fugitive, but still very
different, some experimental stuff. RECOMMENDED.
So that's it... hope it helps. If you like Fugitive, I would say the top
three to get would be LIVE IN BUDOKAN.....REAL....and the newest one. If
you want to hear them do something different, TREACHERY. All have
some great songs.
This
is their website:
http://www.earthshaker.jp/index2.html
Cheers,
-Dougie
