SHARK ISLAND : Law Of The Order - 1990 Vinyl LP (AOR/Richard Black/Guns N Roses)

	£		20
	$		27

Shark Island - "Law Of The Order" (1990)
1990 Epic Records First Pressing : Netherlands Vinyl : EX-/VG+ Sleeve : EX-VG+
Scarce European fist pressing of this long out of print AOR/hard rock gem. Features Richard Black on vocals (also was in Contraband with members of Ratt, Vixen and LA Guns) who is probably best remembered for being written about in Guns N Roses biographies as the guy who Axl Rose allegedly nicked his stage act/moves from. Whilst over thirty years on the jury is still out on those claims this I still a great and completely underappreciated album from that grey area where those bands that fit in with the 80's US hard rock bands of a certain era were selling far less copies of better quality albums (arguably).
Nice clean copy with a low start price.
SIDE ONE
Paris Calling 4:50 Shake For Me 4:05 Somebody's Falling 3:57 Bad For Each Other 4:36 Passion To Ashes 4:00
SIDE TWO
Spellbound 3:12 Get Some Strange 4:09 Why Should I Believe 5:31 Ready Or Not 3:34 The Chain 5:33
Happy bidding!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdrYV7WksJ0

DECIBEL GEEK REVIEW :
https://www.decibelgeek.com/buried-treasure-shark-island-law-order/
"1989! I was a wordly 15 years old and just beginning to really discover rock music. A friend and I went to see the movie Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure…..a whopping seven times in the theater! That film became like a mantra for the two of us. We passed each other in the halls at school and often mimicked some quick air guitar moves, exclaiming “excellent” just as the Bill & Ted characters did throughout the movie. When we had saved up enough paper route earnings or allowance money, the cassette version of the bill & ted original soundtrack became our very own. That cassette was played daily through our big yellow Sony walkmans, home stereos, basically where ever it could be. It featured and introduced us to bands like Extreme, who would, of course, go on to huge success a couple of years later based on the ballad, “More Than Words”, but it also provided our hungry young ears an aural introduction into some awesome lesser known bands like Tora Tora and Shark Island. Shark Island was the only band to have two song inclusions on the Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure Soundtrack, “Dangerous” and “Father Time”, the latter being a favorite for us.
In 1989, Shark Island released their Law of the Order album, although it would be some years later before I myself would hear it. It was a feeling that must be akin to uncovering that dinosaur skeleton for the archeologist who has just discovered a new species. A fantastic piece of late 80’s melodic hard rock, dare I say hair metal even, that I feel was severely overlooked by the record buying public. While a popular staple on L.A.’s Sunset Strip, Shark Island never got their due, I’m sure in part a casualty of the hammer of grunge that was to smash down two years later. Original members, Richard Black (vocals), Spenser Sercombe (guitars), Christian Heilmann (bass) reunited and brought drummer Glen Sobel into the fold to record 2006’s Gathering of the Faithful.
Law of the Order remains a favorite for me, comfortable like an old friend and always comes out nice. Lead off track, “Paris Calling”, was also the single and music video and is near five minutes of pure melodic rock heaven. “Paris Calling”, together with the next two tracks, “Shake for Me” and “Somebody’s Falling”, are all basically perfect melodic metal compositions and should have flooded radio and driven this band into the lofty heights of stardom. “Bad for Each Other” is a little more ballady and was also recorded by Contraband in 1991. Contraband was a short-lived supergroup that consisted of Tracii Guns (L.A. Guns), Bobby Blotzer (Ratt), Michael Schenker (MSG), Share Pedersen (Vixen) and Richard Black (Shark Island). “Passion to Ashes” picks up the pace once again and “Spellbound” keeps it going, both loaded with the catchy guitar hooks and fantastic melodies found throughout this album. “Get Some Strange” probably bests “Paris Calling” and it’s cronies from the early part of the album for the choice cut of the collection. The spoken word section during the breakdown of “Get Some Strange”, obviously a guy talking to his girlfriend is classic 80’s, reminding me of Twisted Sister‘s “Love is for Suckers”. Some albums tend to lose momentum throughout, but not Law of the Order with its the sing-along choruses electrified by Black‘s gritty and versatile vocal ranges. “Why Should I Beleive” is a tender ballad that is even able to keep a non-ballad fan like me interested throughout and doesn’t diminish my listening enjoyment. From there Law of the Order ramps up for a big finish with “Ready or Not”, another high energy, uptempo rocker followed by Shark Island‘s rockin’ cover of Fleetwood Mac‘s “The Chain”."