Stream Dream: Yngwie Malmsteen- Eclipse (1990)

Leave it to my younger brother Todd who back in the summer of 1990  at the young tender age of 13  was reading those Guitar Mags of the day while learning to play the six string himself and came home one day with Mr Yngwie J’s “Eclipse” on cassette tape!

Myself being about 10 years older(I was 23 years old at the time) I was glad on two fronts that Todd  bought this tape.

1- I seen the video of the single “Bedroom Eyes” which I thought was a brilliant tune.(I will explain why later)

2-The fact that I had gotten my brother both “Guitar World” and “Guitar For The Practicing Musician” subscriptions that previous Christmas  meant that Todd was reading the mags!

Good Boy.

I borrowed this tape off of Todd and it was a Walkman listen. I liked it in 1990 but for some crazy unexplained reason I never bought it. 

2021 let’s give it a stream and see what I think about it..

Yngwie Mach 90 assembled a full band of Swedes and off they went into the forest^ and recorded “Eclipse”.  The real  key of this album is Goran Edman who has a great voice and delivers an total American vibe as he can somehow wrap his vocals around the cranked Strat n Marshall sound of Malmsteen!

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Making Love (4:56)
2. Bedroom Eyes (4:02)
3. Save Our Love (5:24)
4. Motherless Child (4:13)
5. Devil in Disguise (6:11)
6. Judas (4:25)
7. What Do You Want (3:49)
8. Demon Driver (3:25)
9. Faultline (5:08)
10. See You in Hell (Don’t Be Late) (3:39)
11. Eclipse (3:46)

Total time 49:04

When streaming “Eclipse” it’s totally apparent that this album was geared for 1990 MTV.  Hard Rock plain and simple as that was what was being played back then.

Yngwie being the captain of the ship leads the charge with opening track “Making Love” which has Yngwie cooped up, trying his best to keep his fingers bellow 100 mph on his fretboard  by keeping his playing in check with the composition of the songs.

This style of rock must have driven him bonkers as he couldn’t unleash the fury. (see what I did there)

 For the most part that is the key and perhaps the reason I like this album as he is not doing all the guitar wanky wanky with the wang bar stuff. 

“Bedroom Eyes” is a killer track which should have driven the album up the charts as Edman is the perfect foil to Yngwie in the tune. Goran is awesome on this tune and how about that riff that leads right into the chorus. I’ll post the video below so you can see Yngwie J swinging his Strat, tossing his Strat and rubbing his arse on his Strat!

The fact that Malmsteen (who produced the album) was buying into the format of a rock album featuring rock songs is the reason I don’t mind it.

Sure the sound has that generic hard rock crystal clear production but this band had chops and could flex some cool muscle on rockers like “Judas”  and yes if your looking for Yngwie circa 1985 he does let loose on some stuff like “What Do You Want” and “See You In Hell” which as you can say old habits die hard.  

For the most part this is a good listen other than the usual go to move of a ballad back in 90 (“Save Our Love”) which does nothing for me but other than that “Eclipse” is a pretty decent listen.

deKe’s Stream A Rater- 7.5/10

^- Yngwie did not record this album in a forest I just thought it sounded funny to write and to see if you were paying attention.