Man in Motion

Man in Motion is the fifth album, released just before 1980s NIGHT RANGER reached a turning point, and it shifts weight from the keyboard-heavy predecessor back toward guitar-driven momentum. Brad Gillis and Jeff Watson’s twin guitars move to the front, combining soaring melody with harder-edged riffs. The interlocking twin leads — Watson’s fast runs against Gillis’ melodic phrasing — are as strong as ever here, fully conveying the band’s technical side. While keeping an arena-rock polish, the record shows the band trying to reclaim its strength as a genuine rock album. Led by the title track “Man in Motion,” the songs are built on catchy choruses and guitar exchanges, and the players’ command never wavers to the end. Yet this was a time of major upheaval in the music scene, and after this album Jack Blades formed Damn Yankees with Ted Nugent and Tommy Shaw as the band entered a long hiatus. It therefore became the close of the early golden era, but the playing shows no sign of decline, carrying the pride of 1980s melodic hard rock to the very end. It is an essential record for witnessing where 1980s NIGHT RANGER arrived.