On 9th August Frontiers Music released three albums from bands that were initially active in the late 80’s and/or early 90’s. I’ve already posted recommendations for the Roxy Blue and Spread Eagle albums. The third is “Big Blue World” by Unruly Child. It’s more melodic / AOR focused than the other two and not all of the track necessarily tick the boxes for me, but it’s definitely worth checking out. The track “Living In Someone Else’s Dream” was included on the NI Rocks A-Z Show in July and “Will We Give Up Today” was on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 16th August.


 

Unruly Child features Marcie Michelle Free on lead vocals. Prior to 1993 she had been known as Mark Free; recording two albums with King Kobra (“Ready to Strike” in 1985 and “Thrill of a Lifetime” in 1986) and two albums with Signal (“Loud & Clear” in 1989 and “Signal Live” in 2000) , as well as the first self-titled Unruly Child album in 1992.


Unruly Child formed in 1991 and were active for only two years before splitting. The original band members were Free on lead vocals, Bruce Gowdy on guitar, Larry Antonio on bass, Jay Schellen on drums and Guy Allison on keyboards. The band reformed for a few years between 1998 and 2003, with Gowdy, Schellen and Allison alongside Ricky Philips on bass and initially Kelly Hanson on lead vocals (for the album “Waiting For The Sun). The latter was replaced by Philip Bardowell in 2002 (for the album “UC III”).


In 2009 the original members reformed Unruly Child and the album “Worlds Collide” was released by Frontiers in 2010. That was followed in 2017 by “Can’t Go Home” and a live album in 2018. The last studio album in 2017 had included all the original members, but Antonio and Schellen are absent from “Big Blue World” with Gowdy and Allison providing additional input.

 

Check out the band’s Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/unrulychildband/



About “NI Rocks Recommends”

The simple idea behind “NI Rocks Recommends” is to acknowledge and promote some of the great music being submitted to Rock Radio NI. The albums that I’ll be recommending are those that you’ll hear me playing tracks from on my shows. I'll not be giving marks or ratings or analyzing the tracks in great detail; just telling you something about the artist and the album. It’s a personal recommendation to go check something out, not a traditional “review”!