After his success with Whitesnake and then his classic solo album Passion & Warfare, guitar master Steve Vai assembled a melodic hard rock combo consisting of very young musicians; BAD 4 GOOD. With his contacts in the industry, Vai secured a recording contract with a major label, and the band released its debut album “Refugee” in 1992.
The band was a quartet of young men, teens indeed, however all uber-talented. The group was led by electric guitar prodigy Thomas McRocklin, bassist Zack Young, Brooks Wackerman (drums), and singer Danny Cooksey. McRocklin had previously appeared in one of the videos of Steve Vai (“The Audience Is Listening”), Danny Cooksey had a career as an actor (but trained as singer since a couple of years), and Brooks Wackerman is the younger brother of former Frank Zappa drummer Chad Wackerman, who Vai meet years after being part of Zappa’s band.
Most of the songs are co-written by the band & Vai, legend Mike Shipley was brought to mix some songs, expert Chris Lord Alge was also involved, while Steve Vai himself produced, arranged and engineered the whole thing.
The result? One of the best melodic hard rock records from the tail of the golden era for the genre.
There’s not a weak song here, all are killer tunes in this style, everything sounds crisp, detailed. Catchy, melodic, swirling rocking songs are the order of the day with BAD 4 GOOD’s ”Refugee”.
Among the highlights, there’s a kickin’ version of Phil Lynott’s Grand Slam ‘Nineteen’ awesomely done U.S. melodic rock, ‘We’re Gonna Fight’ rocks hard, the AOR ballad ‘Nothing Great About a Heartache’ rips your heart out, while ‘Devil in the Angel’ is a sweet melodic kinda rockin’ little tune.
‘Curious Intentions’ is the best song Slaughter never wrote, then ‘I Want Everything’ features massive vocal harmonies and honestly incredible singing from the whole band. ‘Mother of Love’ shows a somewhat unique blend of hard rock and blues, and of course absolutely astounding guitar work from the youngest member of the band.
Sure, “Refugee” was released at he end of 1992, too late… anyway, all the dudes continued in the music business in one way or another. Drummer Brooks Wackerman is the most active in ‘bands’, being recruited into Bad Religion and in 2015 earned the coveted throne behind modern metal mega-stars Avenged Sevenfold, as well as being one of the most respected and highly paid clinic drummers in the world.
A very good American melodic hard rock album with strong performances and top class production.
Highly Recommended
1. Nineteen
2. Curious Intentions
3. Bangin' Time Again
4. Mother Of Love
5. Devil In The Angel
6. Rockin' My Body
7. Slow And Beautiful
8. Tyre Kickin' (Ya Makin' Me Nerous)
9. Terminate
10. Nothin' Great About A Heartache
11. We're Gonna Fight
12. I Want Everything
13. Felony
Bad 4 Good – Refugee (1992), MP3+FLAC
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