Hostage

Description

Hostage! is the sixth studio album by the American hard rock outfit Rez Band (originally known as Resurrection Band), released on Sparrow Records in 1984. The album was recorded by Roger Heiss assisted by Roy Montroy and Greg Jacques at the band’s own Tone Zone Studios in Chicago, Illinois; with the band producing. “Crimes” was the band’s first music video and was filmed in the same run-down urban neighborhood in which the Jesus People USA community is located. It received limited airplay on MTV.

‘Hostage’ is the seventh album by Rez Band (formerly Resurrection Band). It synthesizes the divergent musical leanings which surfaced as early as 1982’s ‘Mommy Don’t Love Daddy Anymore‘, but are most easily epitomized on this year’s ‘Live! Bootleg‘. From its inception, Rez Band majored in the heaviest of heavy-metal rock stylings for the group’s strongly evangelistic message. Yet, the inclusion of a couple of techno-pop tunes on ‘Mommy’ reflected another side of Rez Band.

With ‘Hostage’, Rez Band transcends these stylistic differences and forges a modern metal sound with a sound for album-oriented rock radio. «S.O.S.» has a snap, crunch, and punch that keeps it from faltering like many power-pop attempts, while «Attention» avoids guitar-army overload with a driving ’80s metal rhythm attack, and what may loosely be referred to as a melodic hook.

From these extremes Rez Band moves with artistic ease into variations and combinations on the guitar/synthesizer continuum. Highlights run from the manic, punk rant of «Defective Youth» to a modern reflection on Jonathan Edward’s famous hell-fire sermons in «Souls for Hire» to the catchy praise of «It’s You» and the rocking blues of «Tears in the Rain».

Central to the success of ‘Hostage’ is Rez Band’s newly revamped Chicago studio, the Tone Zone. Not only is this the band’s best sounding album, but individual performances have improved across the board. Bass player Jim Denton is responsible for some of the movement toward the synthetics. He and lead vocalist Kaiser share this impetus in Rez Band and draw on Jon Trott and Roy Montroy, fellow Jesus People USA members, for lyrics.

Undergirding, at times overpowering, the compositional elements of Rez Band’s music is a deep sense of concern and compassion for that rock ‘n’ roller out on the street. It’s perhaps best expressed in Kaiser’s impassioned vocal, “Defective youth/ Why don’t you listen?” [Quincy Smith-Newcomb, CCM, December 1984]

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/hostage/716143659)

LP tracklist:

Side One
A1. “S.O.S.” – 4:03
A2. “Attention” – 3:45
A3. “Souls For Hire” – 3:30
A4. “Defective Youth” – 2:57
A5. “Who’s Real Anymore” – 4:06
A6. “Armageddon Appetite” – 1:26

Side Two
B1. “Beyond The Gun” – 4:20
B2. “Crimes” – 3:38
B3. “It’s You” – 2:02
B4. “Tears In The Rain” – 6:00
B5. “Walk Away” – 4:50

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and 12-inch vinyl LP by Sparrow Records. Re-issued on CD in 1999 by Grrr Records. Remastered by Rob Colwell of Bombworks Sound and re-issued on both CD (including a multi-page CD booklet with lyrics and liner notes) and vinyl in 2022 by Girder Music.