JOE LYNN TURNER: “YNGWIE MALMSTEEN is his own worst enemy”
27-03-2024
In a new interview with Backstage Pass Rock News, legendary hard rock vocalist Joe Lynn Turner was asked if he would have liked to have done a follow-up album to “Odyssey”, his 1988 collaboration with Yngwie Malmsteen, widely considered the most commercial of all LPs the Swedish guitarist’s name has been attached to.
He responded : “Sure. Look, I don’t have a problem with Yngwie. Yngwie is Yngwie. It is what it is. And it got a little bit too much towards the end. I can remember walking around Stockholm in the rain cursing him because he was just getting overbearing. It was just too much. And at times like those, no, you don’t wanna do another record; you really don’t. You need some distance between you to settle down. Looking back, I guess we could have done another album, if he was a little more reasonable at the time. But, to be honest, I think he felt threatened and maybe he felt he needed to go in a different direction. And if he’s going in the direction that he’s been going in lately, I don’t know. I don’t that’s a good decision, simply because he’s not a great singer, he’s not a great drummer or producer. I listen to [Yngwie‘s recent] records and I go, ‘Well, Jeez, that’s not gonna make it.’ Then I listen to ‘Odyssey’, and I say, ‘Whoa.’ It’s like a super, super piece of work. So I guess sometimes you’re your own worst enemy, and in this case, apparently, Yngwie is his own worst enemy. But I have no problem with Yngwie to this day. What was done was done. What was said was said. Quote-unquote diary of a madman. So what are you gonna do?”
Four years ago, Turner told “80’s Glam Metalcast” about “Odyssey”: “Personally, I think it’s some of the best work Yngwie or I have ever done. I think that is a brilliant album. It still stands the test of time. ‘Odyssey’ is just powerful. Every track is a great song, and yet incredible virtuoso playing by Yngwie. My vocal performances I couldn’t get better, I think, if I tried. The writing — everything was just there in that package all at once. Of course, I know for a fact, as far as numerically, it’s the biggest album he’s ever had. And I’m still playing some of those songs with my band — absolutely. People wanna hear that stuff. And Yngwie has gone off in another world. He does ‘Rising Force’ and a few other songs, but he’s singing them, and it’s just not gonna work.”
Turner elaborated on the fact that Malmsteen now handles much of the lead vocals himself in his own band, backed by a lineup that includes keyboardist Nick Marino, bassist Emilio Martinez and drummer Brian Wilson.
“Sometimes you’re influenced by the people around you,” Joe said. “I’m not gonna mention names. And it’s a shame, because you need guidance not only from yourself, of course, your interior, but you need an external guidance, too, from people whom you trust and admire and whom you can believe in. And I don’t think he’s getting the right information. He pushed the band over to the side and he’s got 15, 20 amps and he’s in centerstage and he’s trying to sing, and I go, ‘What is that?’ It doesn’t work. And I think for me, as a fan — Yngwie, I think he’s a brilliant guitar player — it’s just not working anymore. He’s gone into a weird direction here. You can’t tell people sometimes, though. What are you gonna do?”
Seven years ago, Jeff Scott Soto, who sang on Yngwie‘s first two albums, 1984’s “Rising Force” and 1985’s “Marching Out”, engaged in a war of words with the Swedish guitarist over the fact that Malmsteen claimed in an interview that he “always wrote everything,” including the lyrics and melodies, and simply hired various vocalists to sing his material.
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