TORA TORA – Wild America [Bad Reputation remaster +5] (2018) *EXCLUSIVE*

Excellent French reissue label Bad Reputation strikes again; at the end of 2018 they reissued the second, 1992’s TORA TORA album “Wild America”, with their usual pristine remastered job plus 5 juicy, collectors bonus tracks.

After their catchy ’89 debut album, for their second effort Tora Tora took a more traditional hard rock approach, much harder-hitting and less ‘glammy’.
According times (1991-92) in “Wild America” Tora Tora have traded in much of the party melodic hard attitude that they displayed in their debut album for a more focused, tight, and mature sound.
However, on this second CD there’s even more sing-a-long songs, and the catchy factor is still delivered in spades.

For one thing, vocalist Anthony Corder gained more control over his wild and high-pitched voice, having better discretion with when to rein it in and when to let it loose. Every musician in this album improved, most notably guitarist Keith Douglas with some excellent solos and subtle yet brilliant fills inserted into most of the songs.
The band also honed their blues-obsessed sound and really got interesting with it, with some songs even featuring pianos, harmonicas, and acoustic guitar.

The best way to describe “Wild America” would be to take 2 parts Tesla, 1 part Cinderella, and 1 part Great White, yet Tora Tora had their own personality, and if you ask me, some songs here are even better than many of these mentioned acts.
How can a recipe like that fail? Well, unfortunately for Tora Tora, this timeless kind of hard rock started to fade away in the US market when the album was released.

This is an album to be enjoyed as a whole, but if I have to mention my favorites, the midtempo bluesy magic of “Faith Healer” takes the prize.
Other standouts include “Amnesia” and “Dirty Secrets,” which are just undeniably groovy and hard rocking songs. “Amnesia” has particularly great snotty lyrics that remind me of Tora Tora’s arguably biggest hit ‘Walkin’ Shoes’ with lines like, “If you think I still need you, well, you’ve got amnesia” and “You said you was just talkin’ to a friend.”

There’s brilliant upbeat outlaw track in “Dead Man’s Hand” driven by smooth riffs that even features a saxophone and brings back a lot of that swagger and personality that the band showed in their debut album, and “Nowhere to Go But Down,” a dark and beautiful acoustic-laced ballad.

As bonus tracks we have the B-Sides taken from the now impossible to find 3 CDsingles released from the record: these songs are “Walkin’ Shoes”, “Love’s A Bitch” and “Hard Times”, all appeared in Tora tora’s first album but here in different versions (remixed?)
As plus there’s a rare remix of “Faith Healer” and the exclusive song Tora Tora recorded for “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” movie soundtrack.

From start to finish “Wild America [Bad Reputation remaster +5]” is a great, classic hard rock record that really stands up as a lost, overlooked early 90s US rock.
Tora Tora clearly matured from their first album and put together a bunch of excellently-performed, top tier classy hard rock songs. Like many ’80s glam metal bands, when the genre started to fade out in the early Nineties, Tora Tora shed their poppy inclinations and married themselves to a heavier, bluesier, and more mature sound. And it worked out very well for them.

I would probably put this in line with Tesla’s ‘The Great Radio Controversy’ as far as how well it was written, performed and produced.
“Wild America” was reissued / remastered during the past decade (out of print now) but this Bad Reputation Records remastering sound blows out of the water any previous version of this rocking CD.
HIGHLY Recommended

01 – Wild America
02 – Amnesia
03 – Dead Man’s Hand
04 – As Time Goes By
05 – Lay Your Money Down
06 – Shattered
07 – Dirty Secrets
08 – Faith Healer
09 – Cold Fever
10 – Nowhere to Go But Down
11 – City of Kings
BONUS TRACKS:
12 – Dancing With a Gypsy
13 – Walkin’ Shoes
14 – Love’s a Bitch
15 – Hard Times
16 – Faith Healer (Remix)

Anthony Corder – lead and backing vocals
Keith Douglas – guitars
Patrick Francis – bass
John Patterson – drums, percussion

BUY IT !
www.amazon.de/Tora-Wild-America/dp/B07JYR545P
badreputation.fr/TORA-TORA-WILD-AMERICA-REISSUE
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