After a somewhat unsuccessful venture forward with John Corabi on vocals, and a similar story for Vince Neil and his solo album, the two decided to reunite again and see if there was still any magic in the concept. This they also did without drummer Tommy Lee, who had decided to dip his own toe into other projects, along with a little time behind bars.
However, despite some excitement about Neil returning to the fold, this album never really gets off the ground. The change in direction away from what they did best – the L.A. rock and hair metal scene, with fun tunes and cool beat to them – to this sludgy, almost grunge-style of music, really lacks the kind of killer hooks they used to produce. In a similar way that other bands of their generation, like L.A Guns and Ratt, seemed to try and move with the change to the Seattle grunge scene of the early 1990’s, this doesn’t suit their style and doesn’t come off. Sure, some of the songs you can still find yourself tapping your foot along to, but mostly I spend my time trying to work out what it is exactly that they tried to produce here.
What probably highlights it even more is the update of “Shout At The Devil” that gets tacked onto the end of the album. It doesn’t come near the quality or energy of the original! If you are going to ‘update’ one of your own songs, surely you would have to make sure it was going to be at least its equal!
In particular, songs such as “Flush”, “Confessions”, “Beauty” and “Glitter” are so unlike Motley Crue that I have, at times, actually checked the disc to make sure it who it says it is. Moving with the times is OK. Forgetting who you are is unforgivable.
Rating: A crying shame from a once-great band. 1.5/5
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