Keel

Reissues ROCK CANDY

LA rockers’ rise and fall.

The buzz about Keel in the 80s owed as much to the star power of their producer Gene Simmons as to the band’s straight-shooting heavy metal. And, as evidenced by two albums from that period, after their famous mentor had moved on the only way for Keel was down.

The Final Frontier (6/10), in 1986, was their second album with Simmons, following The Right To Rock, on which they recorded three of his songs, none of which good enough for Kiss. The title track from The Right To Rock was heroic and daft in equal measure, as were the best songs on The Final Frontier, notably Rock And Roll Animal, with leader Ron Keel singing his balls off.

Co-written with Springsteen, Because The Night was a hit for Patti Smith, but sadly not for Keel. And with Simmons gone, the routine follow-up album – produced by Michael Wagener, titled simply Keel (4/10) – was the flop that killed the dream.