In 1979, the Los Angeles band
Bluebeard released an album, Bad Dream, that sold 20,000 copies, two-thirds of them in Europe and Japan. It was the only LP they issued before breaking up, but more than 20 years later, guitarist
Vincent Bitetti -- by this time a successful video game entrepreneur -- began thinking of recording more
Bluebeard material, particularly after the death of original lead singer Robert Berry Leech. The 2007 CD
Deluxe with Reverb resulted, with most of the original lineup aboard, though Ellington Erin had replaced Leech as lead singer. It's difficult to ascertain when most of this material was recorded; one presumes much or most of it was cut not long before the album was released, yet Leech, who died a few years before the CD came out, appears on three tracks. Whatever the case, it's mediocre hard rock with a metallic gleam, and could have easily been recorded in 1979 as in the early 21st century. If
Spinal Tap were looking for an opening act, they'd fit the bill fine, except, perhaps, for not being quite unwittingly ridiculous enough. There are nagging melodies with a trace of evil, grandiose keyboard flourishes, and a tendency toward overwrought singing. There are also occasional power ballad moves that would have been too wimpy for
Spinal Tap to countenance, and occasional songs (like "The Sleeper & the Dreamer," "Sad Forgotten Song," and "A Love to Rescue Me") indicating there are some mainstream romantic pop ambitions in the group that steer clear of usual hard rock moves -- though not of rock clichés. [A remastered version of the CD was also released.]