Trial by Fire [VHS]

Live album tie in
Yngwies Trial by Fire live VHS video was the perfect counterpoint to both the audio album of the same name but also the late 80's era of the mans career. The second Yngwie live video has a number of advantages over the earlier Live '85 release and that is the broader pallette of music the man was able to draw on. On his earlier release he only had his almost totally instrumental debut and the (admittedly brilliant) Marching Out to draw upon, meaning we got some Alcatrazz material as well. Here Yngwie had his equally excellent Trilogy album to draw from as well as Odyssey. The production values on this concert compiled from footage of the mans tour of the USSR - still largely a closed market in the pre glasnost days- are not too bad, once again Yngwies predilection for simple stage presentations is on display. The highly successful tour not only has a good vibe, but the band at this point are pretty handy too. Long time collaborators the Johansson brothers on drums and keys with Barry Dunaway on bass and lead vox courtesy of Joe Lyn Turner, who probably got the gig solely because he's worked with Yngwies idol Blackmore. Sniping aside, the man puts in a highly useful performance here and shows his abilities in not only interpreting live the songs from the Odyssey album but also the earlier material from Trilogy. The music on this release is more in the hard rock vein than that of purely metal as per the Live '85 release and is very indicative of Yngwies direction at the time. Interspersed between the `normal' songs are the inevitable instrumentals, at this point in his career they were still interesting and they do at least book end the tunes with vocals on them. General rock fans may not get their boat floated by Yngwies fairly one dimensional guitar attack but at this point in his career he really had the tunes to sally forth with a great set of numbers. On VHS there can't be many of these circulating still (my copy has been all but killed by mould - darn plumbing!). But Yngwie fans really should get this on some sort of format to complete their collection. Not to mention that the almost inevitable `behind the scenes' shenanigans are mercifully absent on basically all of Yngwies video releases - here we only have to endure a minute or two...

One of the Best Ever Electric Guitar Experiences !!!
this is one of the finest electric guitar experiences one can enjoy in this world... parts of "Electric Ladyland" by Hendrix, parts of "Images & Words" by Dream Theater & parts of "Live in Leningrad are, by far, the most power-fully inspiring electric guitar recordings for my heart 'n' mind... Malmsteen is on fire in this concert & this era of his compostions is my favorite... & this live recording takes most of my favorite Malmsteen compositions to another level of intensity of feeling- especially in his solos... i feel this is the best he ever sounded & is still the standard for this style of classical / metal fusion !!! i wish Malmsteen would release this VHS on DVD !!! this video as well as his instruction DVD [which uses parts of this concert as examples of his playing] are amazing as well as inspiring... i give this video my highest praise !!! Malmsteen is a virtuoso of the electric guitar & has a truly original approach to his playing.

Ultimate Yngwie!
This is the quintessential Yngwie J. Malmsteen video. An amazing live performance! He is one hell of a player. The stage show, his live persona, everything rocks! BUY THIS VIDEO!!!

Virtuoso? YES!
As a "freak guitarisst" I really LOVE Yngwie J Malmsteen, and i belive that NO ONE ever will play like this guitar GOD (exepct me ;). On this movie he is in relly GOD SHAPE!!! I have 5 Live Videos with Malmsteen, and i blevie this one is "THE BEST ONE", he is so cool! Look when he plays "Riot In The Dungeons", when he have played the intro , he swing the guitar around NICE..If you wanna be impressed SEE THIS MOVIE DUDE!!!! Stay TUNEDDaniel Råneberg SWEDEN

Top notch classic rock video !
I bought this video not only I like yngwie malmsteen, but also my favorite vocalist Joe Lynn Turner was in there. I had listened to the CD album (odyssey) before I watch this video tape. Joe voice is much better in the CD than in this concert, which I hope it's always been like this. Joe can sing pure rock as well as ballad. One of the song "Dreaming", if he sang like he did in the CD, and the camara focus more on him, it would be much better. Of course this is yngwie show so the camara shots are more on the guitarist. And let me tell you this, no other guitarist in any rock band can play like him. He is the best. Overall if you are looking for a real classic rock concert, this is the one for you.