Album review: LION – Dangerous Attraction (reissue/remaster)

Rock Candy Records [Release date 12.02.21]

Lion’s 1987 album, Dangerous Attraction, featured ex Tytan, Kal Swan on vocals, and talented guitarist, Doug Aldrich, who was just beginning his career. Between them, they wrote all the material. This remastered version has now been reissued by Rock Candy Records.

In the eighties, the mainstream media was awash with Melodic rock and AOR. Every label wanted to sign bands who “looked and sounded like that band on MTV”. Released on the Scotti Brothers label (home of Survivor), this was an album that polarised opinion. “Too generic” for some. “One of the finest albums of the era”, say others.

It can be reasonably claimed that it was unfinished business. Neither Swan nor Aldrich had fully developed as musicians and songwriters. Still, for the times, it was pretty gutsy melodic rock. Putting aside the cliched lyrics, ‘Armed & Dangerous’, ‘Never Surrender’ and ‘Fatal Attraction’ were all powerful advocates of the band’s hard hitting, bruising approach to the genre.

Elsewhere, it can be uneven. ‘Powerlove’ and ‘Shout It out’ might just scrape a B minus, but in fairness you can hear a couple of really good songs trying to get out. They just needed a little more time, a little more finesse.

Worth adding that the label’s tech guys have learned the trick of gaining sonic clarity without sacrificing dynamics for loudness. The Remastering sounds good. All power to them.

Swan retired from the music business in 1999, after 8 years fronting Bad Moon Rising. Aldrich went from strength to strength, and is currently lead guitarist with the Dead Daisies. ***

Review by Brian McGowan

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Power Plays w/c 28 October 2024

THE RASMUS Rest In Pieces (Better Noise Music)
THE PLAGUE What Else Can I Do (FiXT)
STAR CIRCUS Turn The Tide (indie)
DEFENCES Breathe It In (Long Branch Records)

Featured Albums w/c 28 October 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)