So, Lenny Wolf's now an 'old fart'. As if nobody else would not be, in a similar case. With a strictly 'downwards' career - at least, in his Kingdom Come years - the last resort would be something like this label. 'Frontiers - A Home For The Homeless' is an appropriate title in my mind. Still, it needs some good music to accompany with your thoughts/hopes.
German native Lenny Wolf's voice surely has this something. Passion, melancholy, emotion, a moody feeling. First it was the 'poppy' US AOR music of Stone Fury, with two albums - Burns Like A Star (1984) and Let Them Talk (1986) - comprising of some weak production, good songwriting and excellent singing. Moving on to Kingdom Come, both Kingdom Come (1988) and In Your Face (1989) efforts did push it to the limit for Lenny and Co. Full of great hard rockin' tunes combined with passionate ballads, it's not weird that one out of two Hard Rock fans do consider these albums to be the sole discography for Kingdom Come!
In the meantime, it came the killing. The ever going Led Zeppelin copyist 'tag' was now forged (even if - apart from some Plant-like singing from Wolf - not so much could some one refer to for the abovementioned malicious comment), resulting in a priori 'lack of originality' for the potential fan base. Seven more studio albums - most of them with Wolf being the only active member - were added to the 'disco' section, but who'd care? Lenny had his point refereeing to lack of luck and bad timing and I'd strike back to his weird persona, non-flexible for a healthy cooperation. Some trivia: James Kottak was the band's original drummer; he then formed Wild Horses before joining LA Glam heroes Warrant for a brief time, while afterwards co-founded Krunk with his wife Athena - sister of the one and only Tommy Lee - to eventually sit behind the kit for German legends Scorpions.
Ain't Crying For The Moon is apparently an album to be heard at home. In your balcony, in your room with some booze; it makes no difference. Please keep it way from some fancy party, except if you'd like your guests 'overloaded' themselves with amphetamines. Ain't Crying For The Moon has little to do with blazing guitars, wild rhythms and 'tearing' vocals. For those familiar with the band's latest works - especially 2002's Independent - it should be kinda expected to see such a 'moody' atmosphere. Most songs feature 'distorted' bass lines, 'weird' heavy guitars, samples here and there, up-to-date songwriting thinking and moody singing form Wolf. There are many moments throughout the track listing that you could scream 'that's Kingdom Come', that's true! Especially in slower moments, Lenny can grab you by the balls with his ethereal Rock singing. I refer to the slower moments in particular, simple 'cause the more groovy moments have this specific weak-indie production you have to overcome to dive 'deep' in Wolf's persona.
There must be a peculiar Kingdom Come 'procedure', now that I can unfold the history more in clear. Listen to e.g. Bon Scott (gottcha?) and imagine how this tribute tune would blow your brains if included in the first two albums' track listing (any). I don't know if Wolf need this production to fit to his inner ego, or he just wants to be up-to-date, but I'm confident that a couple more tunes would be more of a blast in a more 'vivid' sound. Living proof comes from the 2006 rendition of 1988's Get It On classic, placed at the end of the CD. The comparison is certain enough.
This album, without Lenny Wolf acting like the singer, would not be capable of wasting your time. This 'genius in isolation' (as wisely written in a relative review I read some days ago) can touch your heart. He can. Rest assured you have no intention to by this album unless you missed Lenny Wolf's chords.