Shy - Excess All Areas

"Excess All Areas" was one of Shy's last claims to fame (and what little of it they had at that). But this 87 album was a huge improvement over the melody packed goodness of "Brave the Storm", released in 85. However, after "Excess", the band, freshly dropped by RCA at the point in their career where it appeared they were actually going places, tacked the word "England" to the end of their name and changed to a pathetic glam sound for "Misspent Youth", that reeked of being highly drug induced and just terrible in general, with screechy vocals and bland run-of-the-mill songs.

Its sticky, its gooey and contains enough sugar to knock a diabetic out cold for a week. What could it be? None other than "heavy" metal, 1987 style. Shy's "Excess All Areas" has much more in common with hard rock light weights, Journey and Foriegner (especially Foriegner's "4" album), than it does with metal. But that's alright, other bands have taken the melodic rock path such as Giuffria and Joe Lynn Turner's superb "Rescue You" album, which Shy's overall sound is patterned after. Of course this means the songs are based around hooks, with short sweet guitar solos, usually lasting three minutes in length and very heavily padded with synthesizer. Its all over the place, dancing in the guitar solos, and weaving in and out of the choruses, bridges and everything else. Vocalist Tom Mills has been called an "air raid siren", so I will go with that description. Natural high range, its where he's most comfortable at, and it flies right out of the speakers, beautifully solid on ballads with slight swaggering breakup on faster paced rockers. No deep rich vocals here, but the higher sound reminds me a tad of Tony Harnell at times.

From what I understand, Don Dokken and Michael Bolton helped co-write a couple of these tunes reeking of sweet synth. Just the name "Bolton" has a tendancy to scare people off these days , but no fear, as some may remember, Bolton started out as somewhat of a metal singer... even did a metallic looking video complete with long locked leather clad axe shredder. "Emergency" is actually one of the most 'kickass' tunes on this little collection, and it doubles as being the one Bolton co-wrote, so stop being skeptical. Their producer, Tom Kernon, is known for his work with Dokken and Queensryche, so he knew how to make a record sound good, and that is exactly what he did. The production on "Excess.." was great enough at the time to sound fairly decent now, over a decade later. Sure its not up to standards with our modern day equipment, but for its time it was very good and it shows even with the first listen.

1.] Emergency -
A nice upbeat blast of music that resembles something metallic. The switch between the gang vocals singing "Emergency" twice and the next line in the chorus blasted by the singer, is interesting and reeks of Foriegner. And yes, this song was co-written by once frizzy haired pop crooner Michael Bolton, as mentioned earlier.
2.] Can't Fight the Nights -
Opening with some bass, but don't let that fool you, this song is basic Shy formula, the usual pacing and synth stuff they will fall upon multiple times on this album and that is a good thing. Upbeat and poppy with a strong chorus that revolves around repeating the title several times.
3.] Young Heart -
Reminds me alot of some of Joe Lynn Turner's "Rescue You" material, including a song with a similiar name to this one ("Young Hearts"). Upbeat and poppy, drenched in synth all over and a toe tapping melody. A sure fire winner, if a tad repetitive in places, the song is so catchy and short enough so that it doesn't become an annoyance or even that noticable. Nice high pitched guitar solo thrown in the middle that flows with the pacing of the song perfectly.
4.] Just Love Me -
As from the title, you can probably tell that its a ballad like song, dealing with someone that loves another that is not 'his', as the opening states: "I know you dont belong to me, but you are part of my life, you are all in my dreams, the one shining light".... more vocal melodies than you can poke a stick at, the depth of the song is easy to get lost in, from its multiple layers and all the extra sounds thrown in to keep it interesting. Very happy and upbeat considering the subject matter.
5.] Break Down the Walls -
If you are familiar with Shy, this is the song you most likely have heard. Very mainstream (like this album is in general), poppy, but a faster, more upbeat pace. Mills slips in a bit of the already mentioned glam-ish swagger to his voice, and the overall feel is somewhat of an early Ratt, with it leaning more to AOR during the bridge and then totally breaking into the melodic purity with the action packed choruses. A slick, tight, well delivered song from start to finish.
6.] Under Fire -
Absolutely superb and a terrific follow up to the explosive "Break Down the Walls". Only drawback is the rather nasty synth that nearly drowns out the guitar solo before it breaks out on its own. Nice gallopy pace overall. Choruses and everything else is well handled and executed appropriately.
7.] Devil Woman -
More of a rawer song than some of the others here (less synthesizer, and more straightforward), this is apparently a cover of a Cliff Richards song. Never heard the original, but this version definitely kicks arse, catchy chorus and very clever lyrics about some type of fortunetelling, gypsy woman who has "evil" in store for our "hero" here.
8.] Talk To Me -
Synthesizer assault opens the album up brutally before sliding into "Can't Fight the Nights" sound revisited. Bouncy and pure, a treat of a tune, which again, only suffers from repetitiveness.
9.] When the Love is Over -
A balladish song, which starts out delicately but takes the usual route, straddling the fence of having a sad feel, and being too happy for its own good.
10.] Telephone -
Dialing a number, then an explosion into the "Break Down The Walls" feeling material and suffering from repetitive lyric syndrome. Mills hits some very high notes in this one, amongst the pumping synth and the guitar riffs buried somewhere far underneath. Smooth switching between high screeching and the normal vocal pacing. This guy had a truly wonderful voice.

So the album is over, in its original form, but with the cd release, there are three bonus tracks thrown in for an extra treat.

11.] Run For Cover (unreleased) -
A little different from the original released material. This one pumps through with a rawer feel seen on the cover of "Devil Woman". Some strange backing vocals in the chorus, powerhouse bridge, and scattered but well placed shrieks. Throw in a smoking little guitar solo, and then more happy straight up guitar riffing.
12.] Only You (B-side single never released) -
Another tune heavy on the riffing, but definitely not slacking up on the keyboards. Echos strongly of 80s era Foriegner. Candy coated AOR with vibrato enhanced vocals. Upbeat and really good, its amazing they didnt throw this on the album originally. Some 80s era bands looking to score a mainstream hit would have killed to have written a punchy little song like this radio friendly poppy tune.
13.] Don't Want to Lose Your Love (unreleased) -
Opening vocals seem a bit unpolished productionwise, which gives it a slightly altered feel. Pretty solid chorus/bridge makes up for some of the drawbacks in the tune. Its typically like everything else they ever did, and despite the fact there's not much to let it stand on its own, its still a good song, and again, better than what most of the glam bands put on their albums as fillers. (Just think of all the crap Poison stuffed on their albums inbetween their top 40 hits.)

If the album cover doesn't scare you off (just check out that blonde's hair.. wow.. 80s all the way, and the rest of the band looks like rejects out of Glass Tiger or something), you may just be in for a melodic treat. Even though Shy brings a new meaning to pop metal, and makes Winger and Poison both look tough as nails in comparision, "Excess All Areas" accomplishes what it sets out to do in style, with such superb tunes that will please even the most finicky melodic metal fan. If you like AOR, its an absolute must to own this album in one form or another, its an unknown classic in its own right. It can only be put on a pedestal with other 80s melodic classic status albums such as Giuffria's "Silk + Steel", TNT's "Intuition", Foreigner's "4" and the 90s modern day melodic blast of Frontline on both "Heroes" and "State of Rock". I can't really stress how much quality is packed on this release, it has to be heard to be believed, a trip into melodic dreamland.

Rating = 9.0
By Alanna Evans
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