Lay Your Hands On Me – It’s practically impossible to ignore that introduction. Fading in with an absolutely cavernous, stadium sized repeating drum pattern; and texturing it with layers upon layers of instruments as it progresses: chucking in a rumbling synthesized bass; screeching electric guitars; drum and cymbal fills; whooshing sound effects; a synthesized organ; and repeated shouts of “Hey!”. Finally, on top of this atmospheric build up, we have Jon quietly speaking the immortal opening line “They say that to really free the body / You’ve gotta free the mind / So come on, check this out”, promising that the album which is just beginning is going to be truly special.
One last shout of “Hey”, and the instruments all disappear leaving just a synthesized organ and a cymbal pattern. Then, when the vocals come in, for a moment it’s all a bit confusing … for a few seconds, it sounds like a gospel song, with Jon the preacher leading a choir. And then, with a shout of “Come on!” the humongous (and spectacular, one of Richie’s finest) guitar riff and drums crash in, and you realise that what you’re listening to is definitely a hard rock song. But with elements of gospel. And it is utter genius. Jon takes the role of a rock-n-roll preacher, telling his disciples they can be set free if they only “lay your hands on me”. While Dave’s organ keeps the gospel feel, Richie surpasses himself: throwing out riffs and licks all over the place; while being content to limit himself to just chords for the chorus in order not to detract from the vocals and organ. Following a rhythmic and unwinding guitar solo, the instruments are one again stripped back to just the organ, cymbals and bass; and as the drums and guitar are slowly layered on again; Jon conducts his sermon, urging a crowd rendition of the chorus. An explosive opening track, and in my opinion one of the very definitions of hard rock. The original Hard Rock Hallelujah.

5/5