You can view as a turn from the sublime to the ridiculous, but today, a package from the UK arrived, with a bunch of Alcatrazz things that I ordered. If you don't remember these guys, they were the band Graham Bonnett formed after he left MSG (and he sang with MSG after he sang with Rainbow). It's also noted as the first major band that Yngwie Malmsteen was in (OK, so there was Steeler before Alcatrazz, but do they really count as "major"?).
Anyhow, so right now I'm listening to...well, I'm actuall done listening to No Parole For Rock 'N' Roll, easily the best record Yngwie Malmsteen ever played on. Never again did he have the songwriting talent at his disposal that was present in Alcatrazz (actually, he probably did have some talented songwriters who might have made the Rising Force records, if Yngwie's ego hadn't gotten in the way).
But anyway...I've moved onto the bonus tracks on that CD, which are identified as "instrumental demos". They basically sound like rough recordings of the songs, sans vocals, like karaoke versions or something. But have you ever heard a karaoke version of a song that had a Yngwie guitar solo in it?! I'm not entirely sure what the difference between the actual album and these instrumental demos, as No Parole... is one of those records I don't quite know like the back of my hand, apart from Island In The Sun (which I've always thought was a cool song).
Once I'm done with this one, I'll put on either Live Sentence (Alcatrazz were so big in Japan so quickly, that they were invited over to do some shows, and of course, what happens when an Anglo/American band goes to Japan? Why they make a live album of course, and in this case, said live album is Live Sentence) or Disturbing The Peace, the album they did with Yngwie's replacement, Steve Vai. Both come with a bonus DVD of live footage from teh respective lineup's visit to Japan. So I'm kinda in post-Blackmore shred guitar hog heaven right now, I guess.