𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…
August 1986 — Vinnie Moore released his first full-length studio album, Mind's Eye via Mike Varney’s Shrapnel Records. (Apple Music or Spotify)
Background:
Moore played clubs and bars until Shrapnel executive Mike Varney discovered him via a demo and biography that Moore submitted to the Spotlight column, which Varney headed for Guitar Player Magazine.
Prior to his solo recording career, Moore played lead guitar with the Heavy Metal band Vicious Rumors on their debut album, Soldiers of the Night (1985).
The album featured Moore's solo-song Invader, which was in the style of Van Halen's Eruption. Moore’s connection to Varney led to an opportunity to appear in a Pepsi commercial in 1985 (only Vinnie's hands appeared in the commercial as his guitar playing is heard).
Following this, Moore recorded his first solo album, Mind's Eye, featuring fellow shredder and then-label mate Tony MacAlpine on keyboards, and Tommy Aldridge (Black Oak Arkansas, Ozzy Osbourne, Whitesnake) on drums.
Critical Reception:
Recorded in eleven days when Moore was 21 years old, the album received several awards from guitar magazines and sold over 100,000 copies. The album was ranked third on the all-time top ten list of shred albums in a 2009 article by Guitar World magazine.
Robert Taylor at AllMusic gave Mind's Eye four stars out of five, calling it "𝚊 𝚌𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚌 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚍𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚢", albeit "𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚊 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚎𝚌𝚑𝚗𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝚊𝚋𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚜𝚞𝚊𝚕 𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚛." Praise was given to Moore for being "𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚍𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜", but Taylor also labeled him as an Yngwie Malmsteen clone. In Control and Saved by a Miracle were listed as highlights.
Canadian journalist Martin Popoff called the album "𝚊 𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎, 𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚞𝚖𝚙𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚝, 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚏𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚍" and lauded the musicians and Mike Varney's production.
Notice: Any reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells
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