AMG Review of Neverland

Cub Koda
All Music Guide

The first new Night Ranger studio album since 1988's Man in Motion, Neverland reunites Jack Blades, Jeff Watson, Alan Fitzgerald, Kelly Keagy, and Brad Gillis on 11 tracks that find the group mining turf both familiar and odd. The group is truly at its best as a singles band, crafting solid hooks with restrained production on the kickoff track, "Forever All Over Again," and "Someday I Will." But the rest of this album finds them trying to sound like an alternative band one minute ("My Elusive Mind"), a Queen tribute band the next (the bombastic title track), while always reverting back to their original '80s hair band shenanigans and #Wayne's World-style guitar solos ("New York Time"), just to let you know it's still a Night Ranger album.