HALLUCINATION

Digitally remastered edition including 16-page full color booklet with 3,500 word essay, enhanced artwork, new photos and new interviews. When it comes to extracurricular collaborations and spin-off bands, they are, more often than not, prone to malfunction or disappointment, the sum of the parts normally being far inferior to the main attraction. In the case of Shaw Blades this wasnt the case as the partnership produced a surprisingly attractive musical communion, with enough of their familiar styles mixing with a fresh approach. The collaborators in question here are guitarist and vocalist Tommy Shaw, previously a lynch pin with multiplatinum pomp rockers Styx, and bassist Jack Blades who infiltrated the charts as a member of melodic rockers Night Ranger. The two initially worked together (alongside Ted Nugent) as members of the platinum selling hard rock band Damn Yankees, before embarking, during a lull in DY activities, as the high-profile Shaw Blades partnership. It was, in many respects, a marriage made in heaven, the two musicians being uniquely compatible and they produced songs of a timeless and compelling nature. Enlisting the help of producer Don Gehman (best known for his work with John Cougar Mellancamp) and issued in 1995, the duo set about constructing a record that was less hard rock and more rootsy, inviting comparisons to similarly less full-on acts, such as the Spin Doctors, Riverdogs and Crowded House. Above all, the album was a terrific vehicle for the duos magnificent, mostly acoustic driven, songwriting abilities, including the stand out tracks: My Hallucination, I Stumble In and Ill Always Be With You. Sadly, the album flew in the face of the prevailing musical climate of grunge leaving them undeservedly high and dry.