The Brave New World

The return of Iron Maiden's "classic" Dickinson/Harris/Murray/Smith/McBrain lineup (plus third guitarist Janick Gers) in 1999 led to an incredibly successful world tour that saw the New Wave of British Heavy Metal legends commanding stages with the same unmitigated power and authority as they had during their mid-'80s heyday…

Russ Freeman & The Rippingtons - Brave New World (1996) {Peak Records–GRP Records GRSD-9835}
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© 1996 Peak Records / GRP Records | GRSD-9835
Jazz / Contemporary Jazz / Smooth Jazz

On their eighth outing, Russ Freeman and the Rippingtons turn in a typically eclectic outing, the lively, melodic Freeman tunes serving as staging areas for his electric and acoustic guitar excursions. The Whispers put in cameo appearances on background vocals on a couple of tracks, including covers of "Caravan of Love" and "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now," and Freeman gives an updated arrangement to "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" while elaborating upon Eric Clapton's original lead work on the Beatles classic. The album's booklet contains trendy references to cyberspace and web sites, but it's nothing to worry about; the Rippingtons were always a fairly techy band, anyway.

Apparently, there are more die-hard Styx fans in the late '90s than anyone would have imagined, since Styx quietly went gold with Return to Paradise, their first release for CMC International. Some might say that the success was due to re-recordings that peppered Return, but that's not true – it never would have sold that much if it didn't have new recordings, since that's what the hardcore fans wanted. Return to Paradise gave them some, but Brave New World presents the first full-fledged collection of new Styx material in nearly a decade…

The return of Iron Maiden's "classic" Dickinson/Harris/Murray/Smith/McBrain lineup (plus third guitarist Janick Gers) in 1999 led to an incredibly successful world tour that saw the New Wave of British Heavy Metal legends commanding stages with the same unmitigated power and authority as they had during their mid-'80s heyday. But the question remained as to whether the reconstituted group would be able to carry this momentum into a studio setting and recapture the songwriting chops of its glory years.