Lou Gramm: Ready Or Not (1987)

 

As the 80’s rolled on, 1987 to be exact I had checked out on Foreigner after the music they had been releasing by that point sounded like radio fluff.

Lou Gramm though wanted to kick the fluff to the curb and that he did when he released his debut solo album “Ready Or Not” back in February 1987.

I didn’t bite on it right away when I read and seen the adds for Lou’s record. I was thinking 10 songs of “I Want To Know What Love” was my line of thinking. Basically a record of ballads!

I was turning 20 years young at the time so can you blame me for thinking like  that ?

MuchMusic spun Lou’s debut video “Midnight Blue” and as soon as I heard that opening riff on guitar I was drawn in and when Lou opened his mouth to sing, I was hooked.

The power of video sold me on wanting to get “Ready Or Not”  which I did and Teebone bought it as well on cassette and we cruised around like a couple of yahoo’s cranking the rock tracks on this record during those summer months of ’87.

I’m sure we weren’t the only two knuckleheads as this record climbed the Canuck Charts to #25.

Lou showed up on this debut and  I can quite honestly say that the first three tracks on here ( “Ready Or Not”, “Heartache” and “Midnight Blue”) has Lou throwing down the  gauntlet showing  his soon to be ex- Foreigner bandmate Mick Jones that he could still rock it out.

Speaking of bands, below are the cats that helped Lou record this album.

Turgon co- wrote eight of the ten tracks on here and Lofgren when he wasn’t hanging out with Springsteen plays some stellar six string  throughout this record as well.

Sure the album sounds a little over produced but that was the sound for the time.

The two songs that end each side of the record (“If I Don’t Have You” and “Lover Come Back”) are to me the closest things to the stuff that Lou had going on in his day job at the time.

That day job was Foreigner who later in 87 released “Inside Information” and for the record (no pun) I still didn’t bite!

Give Gramm full props as he released a great melodic rock album that still holds up well today.

Best $2 I have ever spent when I came across it recently sitting in the used bins.