john norum

Norwegian guitar-wizard, mostly known for his time in Europe. He started recording at age 14, for a Swedish folk-trash-singer (yes, trash NOT thrash) called Eddie Meduza. John can also be found playing for Don Dokken and Dokken, as well as playing on records with his sister, Tone Norum.

TOTAL CONTROL (1987) CBS

Let Me Love You
Love Is Meant To Last Forever
Too Many Hearts
Someone Else Here
Eternal Flame
Back On The Streets
Blind
Law Of Life
We'll Do What It Takes Together
In Chase Of The Wind
Wild One (Bonus Track)

Line-up:

John Norum: Guitars, Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals

Marcel Jacob: Bass Guitar

Göran Edman: Lead Vocals on 2, 5, 6, Backing Vocals

Guest Musicians:

Peter Hermansson: Drums

Per Blom: Keyboards

Micke Larsson: Fretless Bass on 3

Mats Lindfors: Backing Vocals on 8

Max Lorentz: Hammond Organ on 8

This is John's first outing after leaving Europe. You can still hear some influences from that band, especially on the first 2 tracks. John's stuff is a bit more guitar-oriented though. And the rest of the album contains many other influences as well. Bands like Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake comes to mind. "Wild One" is an excellent cover of exactly Thin Lizzy, a band John adores (he even plays in a cover-band). I like this records quite a bit, and most of the songs are top-notch. The album gets a tad more dull towards the end, but the last bonus-tracks picks it right back up again. "Back On The Streets" is a cover of a Vinnie Vincent tune.

Rock trivia: Göran Edman recorded versions of Vinnie Vincent Invasion's entire first album, and sent this demo to him. Vinnie was so impressed by his version of "Back On The Streets" he wanted to hire Göran on the spot, as he was having trouble with his current singer at the time. But unfortunatley, Vinnie's manager wanted things differently, as he wanted Vinnie to get an American singer. Soon after John Norum, whom recently jumped ship on Europe, heard the very same toon, and promptly hired the singer for his own first solo-effort. And that's how the song ended up on 'Total Control'.

Killer tracks: Let Me Love You, Love is Meant To Last Forever, Back On The Streets, Wild One

John Norum guest appearances:

V/A - 'Spacewalk - A Tribute To Ace Frehley'