First Watch: 20th Anniversary Edition
Artist: Guardian
Label: Retroactive Records
Time: 14 tracks/56:03 min.

The 1980's were an unusual time in the music business. Hair metal was huge.  Bands with the right look were being signed left and right.  Most of these bands were, quite honestly, more style that substance.  Guardian was one of many bands signed at this time ­ as the notorious "Christian band" on a mainstream label.  I was never a huge fan of their debut album, First Watch. It was definitely better than most bands gobbled up in the hair metal explosion, but not good enough for me to love it. Something about the singer's voice just did not work for me.

Then, just a few years later, Guardian finally put out an album (Fire and Love) that did blow me away... so I had to get everything they put out.  I began to see First Watch as a good beginning for what would come later.

If you do not already own the long out-of-print First Watch (or the also long out-of-print re-issue from the 1990s), now is finally your chance. If you do already own some version of this album, you are probably wondering if you should spend money getting this newest version.

Hard question to answer. The bonus tracks from the California Metal compilation might be enough to convince you, especially if you do not own that album. I own both the first re-issue of First Watch and California metal, so this second re-issue is a harder sell for me. But it does have some good selling point. The sonics have been improved over the last re-issue. That version was not really bad to begin with, but the newest update is sweet sounding.  There are also some informative liner notes by Guardian member David Bach.  I would have loved to see something like "Look to the Future" from the Heaven's Metal Cool Tunes compilation included, but that is just me.

The only complaint I have is with the cover art. The original version was a pretty cool concept that still works today, simplistic in an age when bands were just going crazy with cover art.  The only part that does not still work is the goofy costumes the band has on in the picture. The 20th Anniversary cover cuts out the rest of the cover and focus on the band picture, thus highlighting the only bad part of the original cover. It still does not surpass Miracle Mile for worst Guardian cover, but it gets close. Seeing that Guardian members have been vocal about their dislike for the cheese level of some of their album covers, you have to wonder why this was chosen.

The demand for this album has been pretty high for over a decade now, so make sure you grab a copy before they are gone.

By Matt Crosslin (January 22, 2010)

Matt Crosslin - editor of  Down the Line, web designer,  occasional writer
I'm a major music fan with a great wife that cheerfully indulges my taste in "weird" music.  My wife and I love to travel to strange lands, but I can't get her to join me in watching obscure SciFi TV series from start to finish.