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Two weeks ago it was my birthday, and although it's now a well-established habit, some of my friends don't accept the fact that I have to tell them specifically what gift, or gifts, I want to receive. Even though I would say it's good and right, I never want to find myself, knowing them, with yet another book of Game of Thrones, or with skincare products that I will never use. So, to try to please them, at least slightly, I made them a list of records I wanted, from which they were to choose three. The result, Nuclear Assault with "Game Over", "Epitaph" by God Is An Astronaut"... And "Future World" by Pretty Maids.
But Pretty Maids? When did I write them down? At that moment, however, I didn't feel like discussing the choice, so the next day at home, I put on the Pretty Maids' record, and I realized I remembered every single note. Like those records you listened to absentmindedly when you were 15 to learn only the chorus and show off in front of schoolmates as the ultimate music connoisseur. Only the problem was I didn't remember when exactly I had heard it. But it didn't matter, because the album flowed beautifully, and every time it ended, I was ready to start over from the beginning.
Music based on the use of keyboards, catchy choruses, and a charismatic and personal voice. That was, and still is, Pretty Maids, a Danish band formed in 1981 by guitarist Ken Hammer and singer Ronnie Atkins, a group that, although they released very convincing albums in their career, never received the popularity they deserved. A story, unfortunately, told and retold for many other bands. After debuting in 1984 with "Red Hot And Heavy", an album featuring the track "Back To Back", later covered by Hammerfall on their debut, Pretty Maids released what is considered their best work, "Future World".
Influenced by bands like KISS, Sweet, and Uriah Heep, the Danish formation managed to produce a blatantly AOR album while staying within a strictly heavy metal realm. To make the record even more impactful, there's the already mentioned voice of Ronnie Atkins, melodic and gritty at the same time, giving the songs a more pronounced aura where excessive melody might be annoying.
Songs like the Titletrack are examples, where between a direct riff, never intrusive keyboards, and Atkins' voice at times reminiscent of the rougher vocals of Hansi Kursch from Blind Guardian, Pretty Maids' talent fully emerges. A similar discussion can be had with "We Came To Rock", although decidedly more brazen and commercial in the chorus, while with "Love Games" it almost feels like listening to Journey's "Escape". The album shifts back to more straightforward territories with "Needles In The Dark", while with "Loud 'N Proud" it feels like hearing the Magnum of "Vigilante" soundscapes.
And if "Rodeo" flows without garnering much attention in its simplicity, it is "Yellow Rain" that stands out as one of the best pieces on the album. Atkins manages to navigate perfectly between more delicate moments and others where it accelerates, while Alan Owen on keyboards creates an atmosphere that suits the song's lyrics well, about the Vietnam War and the return of soldiers considered heroes on their departure and criminals upon their return.
"Future World" is therefore a record that manages, although it doesn't invent anything already experimented with years before, to sound fresh to the listener, thanks to musical solutions that are almost never boring and will be developed in the same way in the subsequent "Jump The Gun / Lethal Heroes". Pretty Maids will continue in the following years to release consistently good records, but the sounds of this record would never be reached again. Perhaps the record that happens only once in a lifetime to compose, but the important thing is that it exists. A Heavy Metal / AOR gem to rediscover.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Future World (05:24)
In the distant
Far away
Trying to figure it out
But I can't explain
Now we see it
Now we don't
We're floating around
In the unknown zone
Watch the starlight
Shooting for the sky
Reaching out to catch
A piece of Paradise
Is it true
Or just imaginations
Visions twist around my mind
And brings me shelter from the night
Where do we go
Where do we go from here
When do we finally disappear
Oh future world
There's nothing left to save
They blew it all away
Future world
Tonight we're riding on
The final escape
Is it heaven
Is it hell
Is it the afterworld
Or just something else
Are we prisoners in Nowhereland
Where darkness is your only friend
Kept inside this wall of sleep
Have we fallen into a deep freeze
Left the wastelands
Broke the lines
Crossed the border to another time
Being drawn by the fates
Who run our destinies
Stranded in a state of life
Where dreams become reality
[Chorus]
In troubled times
We saw the writing on the wall
We heard the fools
Who brought the human race to fall
We'll build another generation
And not destroy the God creation
[Chorus]
Take your chances
Turn the key
Open up the doors
To another history
Here's no questions
No demands
Here's the future
This is wonderland
07 Rodeo (04:16)
I was born and raised on the street
I grew up in a jungle of stone
I felt the madness of people
But I fought my way up alone
Cause I saw the new horizons
The future and the flame
I walked my own directions
For fortune and fame
Don't leave it behind
Go for it and maybe you'll find
Cause something is waiting for you
Just keep on believing
And make it through
Life is a rodeo
Somebody makes it
Somebody don't
And even though
You feel like loosing
Don't ever let it go
And sometimes when I came to a crossroad
Should I stick to the left or the right
When there was more than just one way to go
Then I chose to head for the light
I found myself on the outside
And I faced the chance to get in
Now I left the moments of twilight
Prepared to win
[Chorus]
09 Yellow Rain (05:30)
Tears in his eyes
The fear, oh it never dies
The echoes of the past
Are rolling on and on
For those who were left back
Tomorrow never comes
Oh, it never comes
And after all these years
Something still remains
The forever repercussions
The eternal pain
Another sleepless night
And another break of day
It doesn't matter anymore
His life will fade away
In yellow rain
They crossed the water
Back in '69
They fought for glory
Behind the enemy lines
Fighting for the nations
Pushed into the war
Without not even knowing why
Or what they're fighting for
Oh, oh
Out on the plains
Some are the masters
Some are the slaves
Oh, oh
War is a never-ending mission
You're just a pawn in a game
Where the number is your name
Left home as heroes
Fools when they returned
Blamed for all the damage
And the villages they burned
Betrayed by their leaders
Murderers they were called
Denounced as crazy maniacs
And locked behind the walls
Oh, oh
Out on the plains
Some are the masters
Some are the slaves
Oh, oh
War is a never-ending mission
They are the victims
Doomed to die
In yellow rain
We've seen them dying in the fields
In yellow rain
Just like a knight
Who's in a fight, without a shield
Oh no
Try to forget, but it just won't go
Oh no
Forever in their memories
Oh no
Hell's just some thousand miles away
Oh no no
Oh, oh
Out on the plains
Some are the masters
Some are the slaves
Oh, oh
War is a never-ending mission
They are the victims
Doomed to die
[Chorus]
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