Hands up everyone who will drop everything to run out of their house in panic to make sure you get hold of the debut solo album from Doogie White. Now, how many just said ”Doogie who?”? Ok, that might have sounded mean, because Doogie White is a very good singer. He has been singing with, most famously, Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow and Yngwie Malmsteen, but also in bands such as Tank and Cornerstone.
What I mean with my intro is that White isn’t the biggest star in the sky and I’m a little curious who is gonna buy this album. Not that it is a bad album because it isn’t and the style here is 70’s based hard or classic rock, if you will.
Well, the album opener really says it all. ”Come Taste The Band”. Yes, the title of Deep Purple’s last album of the 70’s. If you enjoy that album, and I sure as hell do, then you will probably find traces of gold even here. Said opener is a really good good song, ”Time Machine” is really good, catchy rocker, ”Catz Got Yer Tongue” is, despite the glam rock spelling, AC/DC goes pop. Very good. ”Living In The Cheap” mixes 70’s Deep Purple with a bit of pop and ”Times like These” is a great uptempo rocker.
This is a good debut solo disc from White. The sound is good and he is a brilliant singer. However, more is craved in the song writing department. Too many songs lack identity and don’t stick around after the album is finished. A talented song writing partner could change this.
For some reason, I have myself believing that White is better off as a hired hand, singing with an already established artist / band. Not bad at all, but it could and should be lots better.
Jon Wilmenius (6/10)
Tracklist:
1 Come Taste The Band
2 Time Machine
3 Dreams Lie Down And Die
4 Lonely
5 Land Of The Deceiver
6 Secret Jesus
7 Sea Of Emotion
8 Catz Got Yer Tongue
9 Living On The Cheap
10 Times Like These
CD & Festival reviews 
I have no problem with Doogie. I only one album of his which is the Rainbow disc, and hey. He did the best in a kind of weird situation I think. I have a love/hate relationship with that album.
I picked up a copy on Japanese import recently after hunting for it for 18 years! $15 for that!
I think I’ll pass on his solo album, but I’m curious about the stuff he did with Yngwie.
I really dig the Rainbow album, Stranger In Us All. There are some songs there that desrves to be hailed as classics. Hunting Humans, Ariel, Black Masquarade.
But the two Yngwie albums, Attack and Unleash The Fury, aren’t that great, I ‘m afraid.
I agree with the songs you selected, as well as the title track and the new version of Still I’m Sad. However there were other songs on there that I like a lot less, stuff that seemed less classic. I paid a lot of money for the album initially, something like $30, and I don’t know what I was expecting, but it took me a long time to get into the album.
But like I said I finally found the Japanese for $15, which was about $45 cheaper than the only other copy I’ve seen. It has a bonus track called Emotional Crime which is a pretty cool hard rock song.