Damn Yankees - the truth behind their mythical 3rd album

[Stefan]

Interesting.

From melodicrock.com:

 

 

DAMN YANKEES remain one of the most loved American bands of the hard rock era. Two very popular albums and two tours were completed before the band split.

 

Recently there has once again been talk about a fabled 3rd Damn Yankees album, with one prominent American DJ claiming he had never even heard of this before, astonished with the revelation.

 

And there has been a lot of incorrect information posted over the years, as to what exactly was recorded and went on with DY3.

 

With this MelodicRock.com exclusive - for the first time, the full information and truth behind this album – what was recorded, what went wrong and why it won’t ever see the light of day.

 

 

Damn Yankees were signed to Warner Bros. in 1990. Their self-titled debut went double platinum (2 million units) and the follow up Don’t Tread in 1992 was certified Gold (500,000 units).

Aside from one additional song Bonestripper (recorded for the Nothing But Trouble soundtrack), that was it for the band.

 

In 1999, A&R guru John Kalodner moved back to Sony Music and reopened the Portrait Records imprint with plans to record new albums with classic artists. One of the bands he approached was Damn Yankees. A deal was signed and the band was to start writing and recording. Except they didn’t, or at least not in the way that the two previous albums were done.

 

Tommy Shaw was busy with Styx, so his part in the recording was considerably reduced. Michael Cartelone was also busy with Lynyrd Skynyrd.

So…in came an additional guitarist Damon Johnson, who co-wrote with Jack and even signs lead on one track and while Michael was present for some recording, Kelly Keagy also recorded some drum parts.

 

The band over the course of a year wrote 10 songs and recorded 11 – the extra being a cover ofSunshine Of Your Love.

The album was turned into Kalodner and Sony – who hated it. Kalodner had been battling cancer at the time, so had less input into the making of the record.

But the band weren’t happy either. None of the guys were familiar with the producer Sony had hired, Luke Ebbin who influenced the band to sound more contemporary, but the style didn’t suit.

 

A little-known fact was that the label sent the 11 tracks to producer Kevin Shirley, given the task to try and remix it into a record that would sound more like a Damn Yankees record should sound like.

He wasn’t able to.

 

I interviewed John Kalodner in the mid-2000s and asked him about the record. He stated “I didn't think it was quite good enough and at the time with 80's style rock you'd have to come up with something pretty spectacular. I was disappointed in the record mostly because of Tommy Shaw's non-participation. I say that was probably the greatest problem. Tommy was totally an integral part of it. He was busy with Styx and it was sort of my mistake because I just couldn't control him. It's one of those projects that I failed on. I mean the buck stops here. It lacked the input of Tommy Shaw.”

 

So the album was ditched. But only just before the full international release was planned. In fact, it was on Sony’s books in 2000 – with Sony Japan announcing a pending release on September 13, 2000.

 

 

The record was never sequenced or mastered and since then, a number of songs have appeared elsewhere among the members own projects. But there are also several tracks attributed to theDamn Yankees 3 album that weren’t in fact a part of it.

There were additional songs written – but not recorded at the time – that have also appeared on solo albums.

 

So what was the final track list (unsequenced) for the album?

 

THIS:

 

Even Though

Give Nobody Nothing

Too Much On My Mind

We Are The Ones

Sunshine Of Your Love

Mona Lisa

Don’t Say Goodbye

Shine On

Yes I Can

Damned If You Do

Don’t Stop Dreaming

 

 

The tracks from above that have been heard on other projects:

 

Damned If You Do – appeared on Ted Nugent ‘Craveman’

Yes I Can – appeared on Styx ‘Cyclorama’

Shine On – appeared on Jack Blades ‘Jack Blades’

We Are The Ones – appeared on Jack Blades ‘Jack Blades’

 

The rest of the tracks remain locked away in Sony’s vault.

Edited May 21, 2019 by Stefan

[heavyharmonies]

I had always wondered whether the mysterious 3rd album was like the first two or more like Shaw/Blades, which I absolutely loathed.

[KarpetRydOFunk]

I love stuff like this. 

[Darkstone]

Great post. Thanks Stefan. 

[KarpetRydOFunk]

10 minutes ago, Darkstone said:

Great post. Thanks Stefan. 

And Andrew, I guess. ;}

[melodicrock]

7 hours ago, KarpetRydOFunk said:

And Andrew, I guess. ;}

You are most welcome! And no, it's not Shaw/Blades, but it isn't DY either. It's bog average though.

[martinsane]

Yes these posts and demos/unreleased things are cool as fudge.

Is that disc in someones hands or is it some stock footage from some obscure Sony something or other.

Are there any sounds about on this?

I have a CC DeVille/Samantha 7 disc like the Damn Yanks one that I posted about here.

[melodicrock]

Those pictures are all mine...

[Darkstone]

5 hours ago, melodicrock said:

Those pictures are all mine...

As pointed out by KarpetRyd,  I forgot to thank you for your initial post. Thanks mate! What's the chances of some sort of Arti Tisi style demo/unreleased track album from you. The legendary Damn Yankees third album would be sensational in whatever form the songs come in. 

[heavyharmonies]

2 hours ago, Darkstone said:

What's the chances of some sort of Arti Tisi style demo/unreleased track album from you.

Did you miss the 3-disc Arti Tisi set that Andrew released in 2017?

https://heavyharmonies.com/cgi-bin/glamcd.cgi?BandNum=7633&CDName=The+Complete+Unreleased+Recordings

 

[Geoff]

On 5/22/2019 at 1:14 PM, melodicrock said:

You are most welcome! And no, it's not Shaw/Blades, but it isn't DY either. It's bog average though.

Haha. Interesting thread... until this, lol.

If I'm being honest, Damn Yankees were only ever bog average to me anyway, despite a small handful of killer songs. Either way, though, I still do get pretty interested about stuff like this. There's always potential for killer material from the era. 

[Darkstone]

3 hours ago, heavyharmonies said:

Did you miss the 3-disc Arti Tisi set that Andrew released in 2017?

https://heavyharmonies.com/cgi-bin/glamcd.cgi?BandNum=7633&CDName=The+Complete+Unreleased+Recordings

 

Yeah,  thanks mate. I'm aware of that one. I meant maybe Andrew could get hold of the DY tracks and do a similar release. 

[KarpetRydOFunk]

4 hours ago, Geoff said:

If I'm being honest, Damn Yankees were only ever bog average to me anyway, despite a small handful of killer songs. 

Dammit! We keep agreeing on shit lately. 

[Captain Howdy]

I love Damn Yankees, but going on this post, I never ever want those demos to be released because then I would have to buy them knowing that they are gonna be fuck all like Damn Yankees. In cases like this it is better to just have them gather dust on the shelf.

[martinsane]

On 5/23/2019 at 9:03 PM, melodicrock said:

Those pictures are all mine...

Neato, so do the tunes suck as much as being eluded too?

[melodicrock]

On 5/24/2019 at 7:08 PM, Darkstone said:

As pointed out by KarpetRyd,  I forgot to thank you for your initial post. Thanks mate! What's the chances of some sort of Arti Tisi style demo/unreleased track album from you. The legendary Damn Yankees third album would be sensational in whatever form the songs come in. 

It's never going to see the light of day. Jack hates it, Kalodner hates it, Sony hated it...not much Tommy...

[melodicrock]

3 hours ago, martinsane said:

Neato, so do the tunes suck as much as being eluded too?

For the most part.

[martinsane]

1 minute ago, melodicrock said:

For the most part.

Well here is hoping someone shares them as good bad or indifferent it would be a shame to let them rot on the vine.

 

I remember the day I got the 3rd Best Kissers In the World album entitled Yellowbrick Roadkill that MCA recorded and promptly dumped the band and archived the album. However in this case these songs are excellent and eventually got released by Gerald many years later.

[Geoff]

On 5/25/2019 at 2:31 AM, KarpetRydOFunk said:

Dammit! We keep agreeing on shit lately. 

Perhaps you're becoming wise in your old age? Seems unlikely, but possible? 

[Glen]

the debut gets a big thumbs up from me. Most of the album is great.

The second album was a big let down for me.

I'm sure the 3rd is as shite as alluded to in this thread 

 

[Tabe]

1 hour ago, Glen said:

the debut gets a big thumbs up from me. Most of the album is great.

The second album was a big let down for me.

 

 

Yeah, the first album is full of killer tracks.  The second one runs out of gas real quick and ends up disappointing.

[Darkstone]

I love both albums. The debut is superior, but I think their second album is a worthy follow up. I always loved this track.

 

 

 

[Geoff]

I always thought the second album was more or less a mirror version of the debut. Like Kingdome Come's first two albums. Not in a bad way... but they just stuck very closely to what worked the first time... as far as I saw it. 

Although 'The silence in broken' was a nice addition on the second album that was not on the debut. The ballads were identical though. 

[Captain Howdy]

I kinda gravitate more to the second album purely because it was the first album I bought by them.

Much like Geoff I think they are pretty much book ends musically, pretty much identical, which is why I think the fact I bought #2 first is why I prefer it. Over all though, if they never release the third album and leave themselves with an unblemished discography, I will be happy with that. Even Bonestripper is a great song.