"ONE THE GREATEST rock bands to emerge during the early Eighties was San Francisco based Night Ranger.

Somewhat surprisingly, however, their origins originated from a very different musical background, most notably as members of a large scale soul-funk cabal called Rubicon (a unit that had links to Sly Stone) who recorded two now largely forgotten, albums.

Members of this unit coalesced under the handle of Ranger, and later, Night Ranger. Night Ranger's arsenal of formidable talent contained the twin lead guitar work of Brad Gillis and Jeff Watson and - unusually - two identifiable lead vocalists in bassist Jack Blades and drummer Kelly Keagy.

It was this combination that afforded the band a unique sound, giving them an edge that distanced them from other similar sounding outfits.

At one point, however, the band's very existence was thrown into jeopardy when Brad Gillis was tapped to replace the late Randy Rhoads in Ozzy Osbourne's Blizzard Of Oz.

Fortunately this only turned out to be a temporary arrangement. Despite being turned down by every record company in the US, not once but twice, the band's debut album `Dawn Patrol', originally issued in 1982, on the newly-formed Boardwalk label, was an immediate critical and commercial success, and boasted a cache of supremely catchy tracks, led by the triple knockout blows of `Don't Tell Me You Love Me', `Sing Me Away'and `At Night She Sleeps'.

A finer debut album you will not find. 24-bit remastering from original source tapes, 4,000 word story of the making of the album, full involvement by the band, rare photos all spread out over a superb 16 page full colour booklet