Xciter, 2006

Not to be confused with Canadian speed metal band Exciter, this Xciter is the LA band that featured George Lynch and Mick Brown who both later went on to join Dokken. It seems that in recent years many artists are raiding their basements, closets or wherever to dig out tapes that might be cleaned up and slapped together to make an album of rarities or demo tracks. Sometimes you get a gem, but most of the time you find out very quickly why the material wasn't released right after it was recorded. This album is actually has gems and forgettable material that probably should have stayed on the shelf. Even though the album is called Xciter and 3/4 of the band plays on all eight tracks, it is still like two entirely different bands. The first half is four tracks that were recorded in 1977 and they are surprisingly decent for the time. Maybe a little like Rocka rolla era Judas Priest with some touches of early Van Halen thrown in. Some impressive guitar licks from a young George Lynch. The singer on these tracks was a guy named Greeg Sanford(that's not a typo on the first name) and quite honestly he's pretty solid although I never heard of him doing anything else. The real main attraction from these songs is an early version of "Paris is burning" some five years before Dokken would record it live and slap it on their debut "Breaking the chains". I am sure Dokken fans would find it very worthwhile. Well, the band didn't get signed at this point and apparently they changed singers and brought in a female vocalist named Lisa Furspanker (not a typo either). This line-up recorded four songs in 1979 and they make up the second half of this album. To be frank it's a bit of a train wreck other than a few interesting guitar bits here and there. The music is much more low key and commercial and the vocals are screechy and tough to take. The first version of Xciter sound like a band I can imagine playing on the Strip to decent crowds. The second Xciter sounds like a band that would be playing some dive in a nowhere town to a crowd of five people. Even though just half of the album is good, I found it worthwhile enough. I have listened to the first half several times already. So there are some gems sitting on shelves waiting to be released and there are other tapes that should maybe never see the light of day.