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Anteater · 02-01-2014, 10:28 PM

Nightwalker (1981)

1. Nightwalker (5:07)
2. Seek And You Will Find (4:40)
3. Put The Weight On My Shoulders (4:45)
4. I Believe (4:11)
5. Santa Rosa (4:12)
6. Living Inside Myself (4:23)
7. Stay With Me (4:43)
8. Sally (She Says The Sweetest Things) (4:29)

And so we come to end of our journey of Gino reviews. The first record he would put into play for the 80's was, ironically enough, also the last album he'd do with any real sonic relationship to the synth-laden jazz rock & balladeering that had been catapulting him up the charts over the last seven years or so. There was little hint here of the New Wave/synth-pop direction that would dominate the remainder of the decade for Gino's approach for his next three albums, but that's all for the better: the songs here are superb, plain and simple: no long suites or serious experimentation to be found, but perhaps moreso than any past recording, Nightwalker is so slick on the uptake it could sell snow cones to Eskimos. It's a "yacht rock" record with some hair on its balls, and that applies to the best of Gino's material in general.

The first half of the album in particular is a series of transitions from strength to strength, starting with the prowling bombast of the title track. It's got some generous keyboard work, some cool quiet/loud dynamics juxtaposed against orchestral elements and a BIGGG groove that culminates into a killer climax at the end, segueing without a hitch into 'Seek And You Will Find' where we get a big fat bassline, lots of snazzy backing vocals and even what sounds like a Stratocaster guitar solo about two minutes in. You just gotta love it when an album opens with not one but TWO great up-tempo numbers in a row right? That's what we got here.

But as fun as that stuff is, I think most people who heard this album back in the day remembered it for having the two best ballads Gino ever wrote in one place: 'Put The Weight On My Shoulders' and 'Living Inside Myself', the latter which cracked #5 on the Top 100 in the U.S. The former is a guitar savvy power ballad with a nifty bridge whilst the latter is a soaring manifesto not too unlike 'I Just Wanna Stop', except better in every single way. Cheesy as these sorts of songs are, the melody always makes or breaks them, and this pair are definite winners.

Some of you may wonder where Nightwalker fits quality-wise in the "perfect six album run" I mentioned back when I started this series, and the answer is "right in the middle". It's rock solid: better than Powerful People, more consistent than Storm At Sunup, and perhaps more balanced musically than The Gist Of The Gemini. At the same time though, it doesn't have a song on it that screams progressive awesome wtf-ness like 'Where Am I Going', 'Brother To Brother' or something like The War Suite. In the same way that A Pauper In Paradise was a distillation and focusing the Gino's pure synth approach, Nightwalker is a distillation of Brother To Brother guitar-led AOR into something even more immediate. The question is, was that a bad thing or a good thing?

For our afro'd artiste, it was the opportunity to move on to new pastures. The commercialized jazz-rock approach had gone as far as it could go, and it was time to shift gears. Unfortunately, Gino's period of transition into New Wave over the following five years coincided with major life changes on the personal end (marriage/kids), as well as all sorts of traumatic experiences and inner turmoil which caused him to renounce his Christian faith and become agnostic...the story of which is quite interesting by the way. Curious? Watch the vids below for the full story.

All that being said, that's the end of my classic review series for Gino Vannelli. I hope ya'll dug it! Keep with me into the future as I tackle video games, real life shenanigans, random album reviews, movies and whatever else I can think up. And, of course, I'm always open to review requests.