After their successful 3-album contract with Polygram Records, as happened with many melodic hard rock acts, Lenny Wolf’s KINGDOM COME were dropped by the record company in the early ’90s. But Lenny continued unflappable, returned to his homeland Germany, and signed a deal with WEA.
Partially recorded in Europe, part in America, 1993’s “Bad Image” is regarded by many fans as KINGDOM COME best album. Wolf keeps faithful to his vision: bluesy hard rock with his strong Robert Plant voice timbre – but on a couple of tracks Lenny tries something different in arrangements, rhythm section, etc.
The songs are mature, rocking melodic, with Wolf also playing many instruments minus the drums, while some guitar solos are handled by talented Billy Liesegang (Harlan Cage, Rod Stewart).
Ans he did with many of his post-90s albums, Lenny Wolf remixed / remastered “Bad Image” in 2004 with his ‘vision’ of how the album should have been, re-releasing it as “Bad Image / Black Label Edition” with different artwork as well – not sold at stores, no barcode – only available at his website.
“Bad Image” never was released in America – a shame, as as said, it’s one of KINGDOM COME best, if not the best, albums.
The album still has a handful of moody, melodic hard rock songs with the usual Zeppelin influences that Kingdom Come have been known for. However, there are some obvious attempts to break free from that connection.
The album opens with the melodic hard rocker ‘Passion Departed’ that is laced with moody keys and very strong verses by Wolf. The song could have easily been a hit for the band had it been released in 1988-89, rather than 1993 when this sort of hooky hard rock was no longer the in-thing.
But Wolf didn’t care the American market anymore – since this album he recorded his music the way he wanted to, and his European & Asian fans remained faithful.
Track two is one of the examples Of Lenny Wolf trying something different: the song departs from the usual hard rock fare and takes on a complete pop-rock feel, with programming instead real drums. The song has some heavy guitars but it’s mostly based on Lenny’s voice, heavy keys and an undeniably pop rhythm. If early Kingdom Come sounded like Led Zeppelin, this song sounds more like one of Robert Plant’s solo albums.
“Mad Queen” is another melodic, pop rocker with a bluesy feel. The somewhat stiff hard rock of “Little Wild Thing” is dramatically un-Zeppelin-like.
There are various attempts at 80s power ballads such as “Friends” that work well for Wolf’s soulful voice. Much like the opening track, had this song been recorded a few years earlier it might have been a hit for the band. Much like the rest of the album the song is quite moody and doesn’t sound like some forced, sappy radio-ballad. It feels authentic.
I’d be hard pressed to call “Bad Image” a traditional hard rock album, but there is something quite endearing about this album. It’s melodic, moody rock and roll with a some little ’80s pop-rock vibe.
The strength of this album is the muscular songwriting: yes, all these songs are good, some verryyy good. It’s well performed & produced too, and this Wolf own remaster reinforce its quality.
Highly Recommended
01 – Passion Departed
02 – You’re the One
03 – Fake Believer
04 – Friends
05 – Mad Queen
06 – Pardon the Difference (But I Like It)
07 – Little Wild Thing
08 – Can’t Resist
09 – Talked Too Much
10 – Glove of Stone
11 – Outsider
Lenny Wolf – vocals, guitar, bass, keys
Billy Liesegang, Heiko Radke-Sieb – guitar
Kai Fricke – drums