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Unruly Child: III/The Basement Demos

When World Trade, sort of a harder-edged Yes, disbanded after their 1995 release Euphoria, who knew that singer and multi-instrumentalist Billy Sherwood would go on to play for the group that so influenced his own band? Perhaps weirder still is the fact that World Trade's other members – guitarist Bruce Gowdy, keyboard player Guy Allison and drummer Jay Schellen – went on to form a hair band called Unruly Child with a past member of Air Supply and a raucous singer named Mark Free. Unruly Child released its self-titled debut (produced by Beau Hill of Winger fame) on Interscope Records in 1992, but the band immediately fell off the radar in the wake of Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Fast-forward six years: Mark Free became Marcie Free (you figure it out) and was replaced by singer Kelly Hansen, who also once sang in a band with Schellen called Hurricane. Incestuous little industry, isn't it?

After releasing the darker, heavier and more mature Waiting for the Sun in 1998, Hansen and Schellen went on to reform Hurricane, leaving Gowdy and Allison to find ex-Magdalen singer Philip Bardowell. I know this is confusing, but the history of Unruly Child is crucial to understanding where the band is at today. III is only its third album in 11 years, and Bardowell's voice still fits the Unruly Child model. But the man can't scream like Free and lacks the intensity of Hansen. He boasts a Lou Gramm kind of grit, though, and he lifts many of these 11 tracks to a higher level.

Opener "Tear Me Down" sounds more modern than any previous Unruly Child track, and other songs like "Kings of Tragedy" and "Vertigo" reflect a more progressive move. Meanwhile, "Bring Me Home" sounds like something played on a Seventies FM radio station. There are even a few tracks that hearken back to the late-Eighties and early-Nineties ("Sleeping Town," "Unruly Child").

Much more reflective of a bygone musical era is The Basement Demos. Released shortly before III, the album includes 16 tracks – every demo song the band wrote and recorded between 1992 and 1994. Most of the songs that appeared on the debut, plus a few from Waiting for the Sun, are here – sounding quite different from their final versions, in some cases. The Basement Demos comes with a companion DVD featuring footage of the making of the first album and a present-day interview with Gowdy and Allison. Most intriguing, however, is the live rehearsal footage of three songs. It's raw but fascinating, considering Free's transformation.

Combined rating for both titles …

Added: January 11th 2003
Reviewer: Michael Popke
Score:
Related Link: Official Unruly Child Web Site
Hits: 5310
Language: english

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