With the demise of the 80s, Ron Keel headed to Nashville, where he scored some minor success. Even without that pedigree, similar to Bon Jovi, many of the latest Keel tunes walk a fine line, passable for today’s country, especially the slide guitar of mid-tempo ‘Devil May Care’, the cowbell in rollicking ‘No More Lonely Nights’ and ‘Live’. Then there’s the dual lyrical laments decrying the lack of “believing in a cause”: acoustic tinged ‘Does Anybody Believe’ ballad and ‘Gimme That’. In that same vein, there’s a paean to the US military (‘Hold Steady’). While the success of Rocklahoma (and advance interest in the aborted Rock Gone Wild) not withstanding, some of the music doesn’t age well: a lackluster opening titular cut (apart from guitar break) and the chorus of ‘Looking For A Good Time’ is basically Y&T’s ‘Summertime Girls’ reworked. That may well be true, but the fans will still enjoy these dozen new tracks. The hard driving, guitar anthem ‘Come Hell Or Highwater’ (how many songs are there with that title?) is the most aggressive, followed by the aforementioned ‘Lonely Nights’ and gritty, locked-in groove of ‘Devil’. The Italian label has also re-issued The Right To Rock 25th anniversary edition, with a new version of the title track and re-mixed ‘Easier Said Than Done’.
