Badlands – S/T (Release Year – 1989)
After coming off of the Ozzy Osbourne, Ultimate Sin tour, Jake E. Lee, formed Badlands with singer Ray Gillen.
If you were a fan of Jake E. Lee’s awesome metal guitar licks on Ozzy disc, The Ultimate Sin, then you may have found his work on Badlands a surprise, as on this disc, he moved in a more bluesy, hard rock direction.
As much as I enjoyed Lee’s work with Ozzy, it wasn’t until his work with Badlands where he truly shined. Jake E. Lee’s awesome guitar licks,
combined with Ray Gillen’s incredible voice is one potent combination, and it shows on the brilliant debut record from Badlands.
This record didn’t chart as high as some of other hair metal acts at the time, but Badlands sound nothing like the majority of the acts from the 80′s. If anything their music was ahead of its time. It is excellent, bluesy hard rock that still sounds incredible to this day. I still consider this one of my top ten records of all time.
Sadly, this record is out of print, and prices for it are starting to soar on the internet. Hopefully, this record will get reissued, as music this good needs to be heard by rock fans who would like to check it out. Grab this if you can find it! Happy Hunting!
Rating: 
Out 0f 10
Track Listing:
1. High Wire
2. Dreams In The Dark
3. Jade’s Song 
4. Winter’s Call
5. Dancing On The Edge
6. Streets Cry Freedom
7. Hard Driver
8. Rumblin’ Train
9. Devil’s Stomp
10. Seasons
11. Ball & Chain
Badlands is:
Ray Gillen – Vocals
Jake E. Lee – Guitars
Eric Singer – Drums
Greg Chaisson – Bass
I was just listening to this tonight. Great CD. Great live band!!
I still have the cassette single of “Dreams In The Dark”,I got it when I was 14!I’m 33 now.I didn’t know the cd wasn’t available anymore.I have tons of music,and honestly ,I’m not 100% that this disc isn’t in my collection!!Gotta check!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
great disc. Unfortunately I only have a CDR copy, but one day when I win the lottery I’m grabbing it when I see it.
Great band!! Saw them live on tour for this CD. Their 2nd Cd is great also.
There’s quite a few live videos on YouTube that are pretty good!!
That is an awesome story Christine! Even better that you have a copy of this. It is sad that such a great CD can’t be purchased through normal channels anymore.
I LOVE Badlands!!!!! They were a really fantastic band. Funny story…When we first started dating, my fiance and I used to work together at a Harley dealership. We would go to lunch together every day. We got in my car one day to go to lunch and I had Badlands in my CD player and I said to him, “I bet you’ll never be able to guess who this band is.” And he listened for a minute and said, “It’s Badlands! I love Bandlands!” At that moment, I knew he was the one!!!!!
Definitely a superb album.. I said so a few weeks back on Rock Of Ages too!! I have this on both vinyl and CD so those prices can rise to mortgage paying off proportions please