[Strappado]

60

Artist: Vanessa
Release: Demos, 1988-1990
Genre: AOR / Melodic Hard Rock / Metal
Country: Sweden
Bitrate: 192kbps
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This is not Vanessa from Västerås who recorded a couple of demos in the 90s and released a self-titled album in 1995.

This is Vanessa (pre-Kharma) with Göran Edman.

The maker of the bootleg have however included 4 demo tracks from the Västerås outfit as well ("Deathrow", "Coming Home", "Love Ain't Always Easy" and "Dark Moon Rising".

I'm not even sure all tracks was recorded under the name of Vanessa (some may just be Göran Edman related projects).

Some studio versions can be found on Kharma's 2000 album 'Wonderland'.

Kharma was a highly regarded melodic Rock outfit, rooted in an 1986 formation entitled Vanessa, this act assembled by Montonegran native Dragan Tanaskovic on guitar and keyboard player Atilla Szabo, a Swedish born Hungarian. Enlisting drummer Stefan Lindgren the pair cut demos at Dragan's Bohus Studios. Although Vanessa demos elicited strong record company interest the band, having replaced Edman with Peter Wennerberg by this juncture, failed to secure a deal. A decade later the tapes prompted MTM Music to offer a deal with the condition the former MADISON, GLORY and YNGWIE MALMSTEEN credited Göran Edman be enlisted as vocalist. Re-recording the earlier material under the new banner of KHARMA the group also pulled in the services of Yngwie Maimsteen keyboard player Mats Olausson for these sessions.

http://www.melodic-rock.com/interviews/goranedman.html
https://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/re ... #msg-46243
https://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/re ... msg-310151
http://www.headlessofficial.com/wordpress/goran-edman/

So, the concept of Kharma goes back as far as 10 years ago with the band Venessa. But how has the band line up changed to what Kharma is today?
The heart of Vanessa has always been Dragan and Atilla so in general the lineup is the same in Kharma today. There is another drummer (Imre Daun) and base player (Oel Starander) that has only improved the potential of the band. About the name Vanessa first of all it was already used by another act but personally I think Kharma is a better choice. All works to the better.

When it comes to the sound of Vanessa it was the typical 80's with a lot of reverb on almost everything. Vanessa was very oriented in the 80's also in their songwriting which is obvious when you consider that the material is 10 years old.

If you compare Burn Forever with Angel Eyes or Wonderland with Don't Close Your Eyes it explains the general difference between Vanessa and Kharma. Both Wonderland and Burn Forever are a parts of the new material that I find more representative for Kharma and the way the music have developed from the old demo.

And the songs and the concept of the recording - how does that differ to the original 4 track demo you shopped to labels previously?
Bohus Sound Recording that belongs to Dragan himself is of course a very important brick when it comes to Kharma's sound. This studio is equipped and updated to the latest standards with a perfect balance between analog and digital sound.

We where experimenting a lot between the songs to get the right sound. We tried various microphone set-ups but ended up with a Neumann U47. That microphone fits my voice character perfectly. A good studio must offer these options to get the most out of the recordings I think.

I also want to give Bob Reimer a credit for his superb work on the final mix. He also mixed the old Vanessa demo 10 years ago by the way.

Why was Cold As Ice held back for a bonus track?!!
Actually there was another blues rock track that never made it called 'Nasty Girl'.
The record company thought that these songs, because of different character, were not suitable for the album. The opinions in the band differed but we finally, in all respect, had to let the record company decide.
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1. Don't Close Your Eyes (Demo)
2. Angel Eyes (Demo)
3. Hold On (Demo)
4. In Chains (Demo)
5. Angel Eyes (Demo 1988)
6. Hold On (Demo 1988)
7. In Chains (Demo 1988)
8. Easy To Say You Care (Demo 1989)
9. Deep In My Heart (Demo 1989)
10. Burnin' Love (Demo 1989)
11. Nasty Girl (Demo 1990)
12. Big Wheel (Demo 1990)
13. Standing Alone (Demo 1990)
14. Rosalie (Demo 1990)
15. How Can We Save Our Love (Demo 1990)
16. Deathrow (Vanessa, Västerås)
17. Coming Home (Vanessa, Västerås)
18. Love Ain't Always Easy (Vanessa, Västerås)
19. Dark Moon Rising (Vanessa, Västerås)