1257. Alice Cooper / Trash. 1989. 4.5/5

As we approached the end of the 1980’s decade, Alice Cooper had been through the wringer, from the depths of the inordinate drug and alcohol fuelled lows to the going clean and fighting back highs. As has been noted in several episodes throughout the run of this podcast on albums that have been reviewed from his 1980’s period, Alice had recorded albums that he dubbed his ‘blackout’ albums, as he has no memory of actually recording them. There is also a difference in opinion in Alice Cooper fandom of the quality of those albums from early in the decade. From here Alice got clean and sober, with a break of three years before making a return alongside Kane Roberts and Kip Winger to record the hair metal themed hard rock albums “Constrictor” and “Raise Your Fist and Yell”, which also tended to split the fans as to how they felt about the modern sound and feel of the albums.
In 1988 two things happened for Alice. Firstly, he almost died after a safety rope broke during a rehearsal pretending to hang himself, a stunt he often performed during live concerts. Secondly, his record contract with MCA Records expired, and he instead signed with Epic Records, a move that was to prove revitalising.
Having spent two albums centring on themes such as b-grade horror movies and teenage angst, no doubt Cooper decided he needed a reboot, a way to kickstart where his music was heading. 1989 signalled 20 years since the first album released by the Alice Cooper Band, and it was a long bow to draw to keep producing albums like those classic ones of that era. The music scene had changed, and Cooper needed to adapt to the change, and find a way to invigorate his brand, and become the sneering frontman he had always been.
In a move that was to be the biggest he had made since deciding to go out as a solo artist for the “Welcome to My Nightmare” album in 1975, Alice approached songwriter and producer Desmond Child to become his partner for his new album. Child has earned the nickname ‘The Hitmaker’ after a career of writing some of the most popular songs of all time. By 1989, he had been involved in the writing of songs on several Kiss albums, as well as the two biggest Bon Jovi albums and the two albums that revitalised the career of Aerosmith. At the time Alice was quoted as saying: "The rarest of moments is when I find myself turning up the radio in my car, and it almost always seems to have been from hearing a Desmond Child tune. There is this certain crazy insanity mixed in with genius". In bringing Child on board as producer of the album, and co-writer of all of the album, Cooper was banking on his magic rubbing off on him and bringing him to a point where he could once again stand up and take centre stage as the popular entity he had once been. It is fair to say that with “Trash”, this was well and truly achieved.

When this album first appeared, it was probably one that all areas of the Alice Cooper fan base were taken by surprise by. It wasn’t a return to his 70’s roots, it wasn’t the experimental new wave of early in the decade and for the most part was also not like the hair metal of the late part of the decade. What “Trash” ended up offering was a mature sounding album that was the hallmark of what Desmond Child was able to achieve with so many artisits over the years, but in essence built on the success he had achieved in those recent years with Bon Jovi and Aerosmith. And the way to build that success was to write a couple of hit singles, ones that caught the imagination of the listening public and then get expansionist exposure on radio and music video shows, and drag in old and new fans alike as a result.
Queue “Poison”, the opening track to the album, the lead single from the album, and the huge and somewhat controversial video from the album. Yep, a leather clad beauty partially exposing her breasts is one way to create controversy and draw in the viewers. There are a multitude of voices in a supporting role throughout the song, but it is the cool calm menace in Alice’s vocals through the song that capture the moment, that draw you in to the song and in the long run capture you. Alongside this is the second single released from the album, and the track that opens side two of the album, “Bed of Nails”, which again utilises Alice’s menace in his vocals. It is heavier in style and retains the atmosphere of the first single, with another catchy chorus surrounded by backing vocals with Alice firmly in the centre. Kane Roberts, Alice’s partner for the previous two albums, co-writes and plays guitar here, and his presence is a great lift for the song. Both of these singles signals this next era of Alice Cooper, moving from B-grade horror to true glam metal icon, with lyrics and music that draw from the battery of sexually charged lyrics by Motley Crue and Ratt while harnessing the integrity of the ‘boy wants girl’ playfulness of Bon Jovi. Alice and Desmond unashamedly write songs here that are anthems sung to and about the female sex, either wooing them into the bedroom or proclaiming the darker side they possess. Both have had experience in writing songs of this description through their careers, and here they combine it into one big best seller.
There are two distinctive power ballads on the album, and for me, one works and the other doesn’t. The fourth single released from the album was “Only My Heart Talking”, the closing track of side one of the album, and also the only song on the album not co-credited to Desmond Child. Perhaps that is telling. “Only My Heart Talkin’” is Alice begging for one last chance, trying not to lose his love as she tries to walk away, and more me is too sickly sugar sweet to enjoy overly. That could also be Steven Tyler’s guest vocals that perpetrate that. On the other hand, “Hell is Living Without You” is a more true Alice type of power ballad, like his great tracks such as “Only Women Bleed” and “You and Me”. Lyrically it is a similar story to “Only My Heart Talkin’”, but musically it is far more heartfelt and emotionally performed, making you feel the pain the protagonist feels. Play them back-to-back, and you will hear the different nuance between them. This has the polish of Child, along with his Bon Jovi co-conspirators Jon and Richie Sambora that the other power ballad does not. The addition of guest guitarists in Sambora himself and Steve Lukather adds to the track immensely.
Then you have the Alice songs that continue this drive but draw upon more recent ideals as well. “This Maniac’s in Love with You” draws on the fun and menacing side of Alice from the previous two albums, more a statement of Alice’s proclamation of love and the warning of that in the same breath. Then you have the closing track “I’m Your Gun”, the double-entendre laden song that became a hallmark of some of his most popular tracks from the late 1980’s albums. Middle class songs that play the role of advancing the album beyond the big tracks. And the title track “Trash” finds itself in this category as well, a fun filled upbeat song with Jon Bon Jovi joining in along the way.
Filling in the gaps between all these are other top shelf songs. “Spark in the Dark” gets the album moving after the opening track, a typically crafted Desmond Child song with Alice playing his alter ago to perfection throughout. “House of Fire” utilises Cooper’s anthemic style again, with chorused backing vocals helping him along, along with Joe Perry’s excellent solo slot on guitar. And “Why Trust You” is arguably my favourite track on the album. It moves at the best tempo, it has Alice at his moody best, and it sounds light and fun even when lyrically he is spitting venom. Modern Alice at his very best.

To be in the music business for over 55 years – and to be successful over that huge amount of time – you do need to adapt to the changing music climate. Not to ignore your roots, not to completely remake yourself, but to be able to incorporate what is happening around you into the way you are writing and recording. Alice Cooper has been extraordinarily good at this, creating albums that often absorb what is happening in music at the time, but still remaining quintessentially Alice Cooper. That doesn’t mean that old fans or new fans will necessarily like or adore what you do at each step of the way as it happens, or feel that an album holds its legacy as the years retreat. In many ways that is how “Trash” is looked upon. And the comparisons can sometimes be skewed. On its release, there was a backlash from the fans of the original band and of the solo albums he had released in the 1970’s. They felt this album was a sellout, of Alice selling his soul to the Desmond Child conveyor belt of hard rock singles and hit makers. It was felt he had lost his way and forgotten the songs and albums that had ‘made’ him, and that now he was just out for a cash grab at the expense of those fans that had also “made” him.
For people like me, 19 years of age at the time and no doubt one of the prime examples of who this album was aimed at, we couldn’t see what the fuss was about. Those old singles and some of the albums from the 1970’s were great, but so was this. This was Alice Cooper seeing our generation, and coming out with an album that, for the time, perfectly fit what we wanted. The leather, the hair, the top hat and cane, the make-up... Alice Cooper was COOL, something that nerds like me aspired to be (sadly, never to eventuate). Was all of that selling out, or was it adapting to his market as it was at the time? A couple of my parents' friends were Alice Cooper fans, and they all listened to this album. Sure, at the party to celebrate my 21st birthday, where at one stage I was playing “Trash” on the stereo, one of my parents' friends did ask me if we could play some ‘old’ Alice Cooper instead (which I readily acceded to), but they weren’t hostile to the new Alice Cooper.
On top of this, there are many people today who look back to this album, having been a fan in the day, and feel that it has either dated badly, or feel now that it was ‘overrated’. These are the kind of fans that wrote off all hair and glam metal as soon as grunge hit the scene. People’s tastes change over time, and not feeling the same enthusiasm for this album now as you did 35 years ago is something that can be quantified.
For me, I still love this album. Of course, I feel and listen to it differently today than I did 35 years ago. This album was ripe for 19-year-olds, and everyone remembers those days of that age with an air of reminiscence, and the albums released at that time is the soundtrack to your life. For me, this is one of them, along with Skid Row’s debut album, Motley Crue’s “Dr Feelgood” and Whitesnake’s “Slip of the Tongue”. Many would have the same feelings about those albums as well, that they are tied to the age and that they perhaps don’t feel the same way about them now as they did then. I can assure you I feel EXACTLY the same now as I did then.
And for me all of Alice’s work of this era and beyond is fantastic. “Constrictor” and “Raise Your Fist and Yell”. Then “Trash” and “Hey Stoopid”. And then “The Last Temptation” (just recently reviewed here on this podcast) and into “Brutal Planet” and “Dirty Diamonds”. Alice just finds a way to write and record albums that don’t all sound the same, that can absorb what is happening at that time, and yet still remain an Alice Cooper album. It is a wonderful gift.

1256. Stryper / The Yellow and Black Attack. 1984. 3/5

The arrival of Stryper on the music scene in the early 1980’s is an interesting story of returning to one’s faith and building a band around those beliefs in an industry that on the surface appeared to have little of that about it. The band itself began under the name Roxx Regime in 1983, the double x in Roxx showcasing the era of the band and the direction their music was going to take. On formation the band looked to be a straight-out glam metal band, with brothers Michael and Robert Sweet the core. A number of soon-to-be-famous guitar players, including Doug Aldrich and C.C. de Ville, all had short stints in the band before the arrival of Oz Fox who became a permanent member of the group. At around this time they began to write songs that reflected the band members Christian beliefs, and this was the direction they followed from that point onwards.
A change of band name came once bass guitarist Tim Gaines came on board, to better reflect the songs the band was writing. The name of Stryper is coined from a passage from the Book of Isiah from the Old Testament that concludes “by his stripes we are healed”, with the band taking ‘stripes’ and extending it to ‘Stryper’. They also began wearing what was coined as their bumblebee suits, with the yellow and black stripes becoming a major part of their stage act.
Signed on by Enigma Records in 1983, the band then recorded what would become their debut EP. It was originally just a six song EP, with a limited number of pressings made, as their record company was still unsure just what the Christian metal music market would be like.
The opening track “Loud ‘N’ Clear” is the clear winner on this EP, energetic, enterprising and fun to sing along to. Th true mastery of the song can really be judged on the album “Second Coming’ some 20-odd years later, when the band re-recorded their best songs, and this one got the full metal treatment that it deserves. It slays. This version has the bones without the meat. “From Wrong to Right” is highlighted by the great duel guitar solo breaks in the middle of the track from both Michael and Oz, which showcased their amazing talent on their instruments, and that they had more to offer than Christian themes. Michael’s vocals are also supreme during this song. “You Know What to Do” offers the harmony vocals of Michael along with Oz and Tim as its highlight in a feel good tone to pull along the lyrical content. “Co’Mon Rock” sounds great musically, again moving at a fast clip with a good riff throughout punctuated by that dual guitar solo spot in the back half of the song, the way Stryper does so well. “You Won’t Be Lonely” dials things back a little, not to the extent that future Stryper ballads would, as the music here is still up tempo and actually moving forward, not something that could be said about songs on future albums in this respect. “Loving You” closes out the EP in an energetic burst that also suggests the power that this band has musically without the production really giving it what it feels it deserves. This was another song that benefitted from being re-recorded down the track to showcase how good it can sound.

Let’s address the lyrical side of this album and band first. I’m not a Christian, and for those of you who happened to listen to the episodes that cover other Stryper albums on this podcast, you’ll know that for me it hasn’t been an issue. It’s great that the band has a message that they want to expand on, but for me the music and the band’s performance far outweighs anything I may or may not believe about what they are singing about. And I guess this is what their record companies worried about early on. Would there be enough Christians who wanted to listen to Stryper’s music? The answer really ended up being that you don’t have to be a Christian to like their music. I am a case in point.
This album, however, was initially a bit different. The EP gained a slight following but didn’t set the world on fire. It was eventually re-released following the success of the band’s follow up “Soldiers Under Command”, with two additional songs included to make it more appealing. And this was where I first heard it, having already digested and loved the two albums that followed it, “Soldier Under Command” and “To Hell with the Devil”, and having seen them in concert on the “To Hell with the Devil” tour in Sydney in 1987. Still probably the loudest gig I have ever been to. The problem for this EP was that, compared to those two albums, this one was... a bit tame sounding. It came across as less energetic and exciting in comparison to the material I knew so well. So I listened to it, but never really with ears that were willing to accept it.
Flash forward 20 years to the afore-mentioned “Second Coming” CD, a best-of by the band where they re-recorded all of those hits, including the two I mentioned from this EP. And – they sounded enormous. I actually couldn’t believe how good they sounded, so I went back and listened to this EP again, and two things happened. One, I was again left slightly disappointed by the original versions of those two songs compared to the new versions, but second, I gained an appreciation for the EP as a whole that I probably hadn’t had before. And over the time since, that appreciation has improved. Having pulled this CD off the shelves again over the last couple of weeks, it has been fun reliving it once again. It is only six tracks long (unless you count the re-released version from 1986 that has those two added tracks, which in my opinion actually drags back the enjoyment rather than expand it) so it is only a short sharp visit, but from a historical aspect it shows a lot of the great aspects of the band that were exploded over the next five years.

1255. Alice Cooper / The Last Temptation. 1994. 4/5

Alice Cooper has been on a bit of a tear over almost all of the previous decade. Having first made a triumphant return to music with his hair metal albums “Constrictor” and “Raise Your Fist and Yell”, he had then dominated the charts with his Desmond Child co-creation “Trash” that had charted all over the world and brought Alice back to prominence once again, a podium he had not stood on for over a decade at that point in time. This was followed by the equally wonderful “Hey Stoopid!” that was a torch being held at the very end of the hair and glam metal movement. Through this whole period, Alice not only regained his place as the top of the tree for all round entertainer and performer of songs that people of all ages and genres could love, but proved to himself as much as anyone else that he could rise from the depth that he had crashed to in the early 1980’s and find his way back to the top of the industry.
1991’s “Hey Stoopid” fell right at the start of the world’s eclipse by grunge and alternative rock, and thus was not affected as much by the rise of this tempest. However, by the time it came for Alice to start working on the follow up to that album, he would no doubt have been very aware that he needed to adapt. And if there was one thing that Alice Cooper had been good at over the years, it was to adapt to the changing circumstances that he found himself in. The first decision that was made was that the album would return to one of Alice’s old habits, the concept album. Indeed, it would be the first concept album Alice had recorded since the album “DaDa” at the end of his blackout years in 1983. It was a savvy move, looking to lock in both his long-term fans along with the newer fans he had picked up over the mega successful past couple of albums. He formed a new writing crew, including Dan Wexler and Bob Pfeiffer, who composed most of the first half of the album, which set up the story from the outset and included the first single from the album, “Lost in America”. In the second half of the album, Jack Blades and Tommy Shaw from Damn Yankees co-wrote two songs, as did Soundgarden alumni Chris Cornell. All of these writers had experience in the style of music that had begun to dominate over the first half of the 1990’s decade, and their efforts alongside Alice gave the album the story and style it needed if it was going to make its mark on the music of the time.

As always with concept albums, you can either buy into the story being told and enjoy it for that aspect or put all of that aside and just enjoy the songs for how they each sound individually. And for me, from the first time I got the album, I have enjoyed the story as it is laid out through the album, but enjoy the album purely for the tracks themselves. Everyone will take a different viewpoint.
As for the story itself, Alice himself explained at the time of its release, "The Last Temptation takes place in an average Middle American town where one particular group of young boys, who think they've done and seen everything, stumble across this old vaudeville theater that they've never noticed before in an old part of town. Emerging from the shadows within to greet them is a mysterious figure called The Showman (who bears a remarkable resemblance to the classic Alice Cooper character himself) who runs the theater along with his assistant, the temptress Mercy. None of the kids accept the invitation to enter for a free show apart from Steven (the same Steven from Cooper’s groundbreaking album "Welcome to My Nightmare”). Once inside, Steven's temptation at the hands of The Showman begins in earnest. But will he succumb? It's all based on the question of whether or not Steven gives in to modern-day temptation”.
The crafting of the album and the story required a great deal of planning, and indeed in the long run Alice utilised several different producers for different parts of the album and story, in order to get the kind of sonic atmosphere and theatrical environment that he felt was required to make this album work. This led to Alice using Andy Wallace for the bookended tracks that open and close the show and the album, “Sideshow” and “Cleansed by Fire”. Much like a stage musical, these tracks take on the role of introducing the story, and then finishing off the tale, and Wallace’s style was perfect for this. He was also involved in the two tracks in which Chris Cornell contributed vocals, the beautiful ballad-esque “Stolen Prayer” and the more bombastic “Unholy War”, written solely by Cornell himself. Cornell’s backing vocals in “Stolen Prayer” are perfectly attuned to the track and worth the journey of this album alone. Then there was the contributions of producer Don Fleming who handled the ‘street-tough’ sound required for the tracks that followed the opening of the album, “Nothing’s Free”, “Lost in America” and “Bad Place Alone”, which needed a particular aural vocal style to fill its place within the concept, and it is performed beautifully by Alice here. And then Duana Baron and John Purdell come on board to help with the melodic and rock ballad styled songs “You’re My Temptation”, “Lullaby” and “It’s Me”. This, with three different production teams brought in to produce on story masterpiece, Alice has trodden an unusual path, and one that it is up to the listener to decide if it has worked.
The performance of Alice’s band here is exceptional. Unlike his previous two albums, there are no guest musicians (apart from Chris Cornell’s to vocal contributions) and it is just the core who play on every song. Drummer David Uosikkinen, better known for his work with The Hooters and Derek Sherinian, better known for Dream Theater, are both excellent here, along with Greg Smith on bass and regular contributor Stef Burns on guitar put their best foot forward.

Unusually for me in 1994, the first half of the year of which I had zero money due to being unemployed for a large portion of it, I did purchase this album almost immediately on its release, from Virgin Records in Pitt Street Mall in Sydney, on an afternoon I had walked into the city from where I lived in Leichhardt to deposit my work pay check. And I had excitedly gotten home and put in on my stereo, fully expecting an album as awesome as “Hey Stoopid!” and “Trash” had been. And of course, this album wasn’t that at all. It was designed for the times, it was one that was crafted in a different way from those albums that had been released over the previous eight years, the ones I had grown with and loved. And, no question, it took me by surprise. There was no big hair, huge guest artists, overplayed guitar solos and a cacophony of guest adding their vocals to the back up mix. It was... well... what I eventually came to believe was “Welcome to My Nightmare” for the 1990’s.
So, I did enjoy some of it, and some of it was a stretch. But I didn’t stop listening to it, because every time I put it on, and got to the end, there was something else that had grabbed me. And within a month, it was my go-to album at the time. When I used to drive home to Kiama for the weekend, this was the first album that went in the car’s cassette player. I knew all the words, sang them all loud. It was great. And then it eventually moved back to the CD shelves. And waited.
20 something years later, and here we are. And as I’ve said before, this is one of the main reasons I do this podcast, because it makes me go back and listen to albums that I had otherwise forgotten. And some are still not great. But from the moment I took this one back out of its cover, it grabbed me again. From the opening track, but especially from the moody opening of “Nothing’s Free”, into “Lost in America” and then the fabulous two-toned storyline of “Bad Place Alone”, I was drawn back to the fold. WHY had it taken me so long to indulge in this album again? The simple answer of course is – Alice Cooper has so many albums, and so many of them iconic. So when it comes to deciding on an album when I feel like listening to Alice Cooper... this just somehow dropped off the list. I can assure you that won’t be the case in the future. Because while this ISN’T “Welcome to My Nightmare”, or “Billion Dollar Babies”, or “Trash” or “Dirty Diamonds”, or any of another dozen suggestions I could make, this to me is still a terrific album. It transcends the time it was recorded and released, it fit then, and it still fits now. Perhaps you disagree. That’s perfectly fine. But if that’s the case, I feel you may be mistaken.

1254. Ratt / Ratt. 1999. 3.5/5

The 1990’s was a tough old time for hair and glam metal bands that dared to venture out of their comfortable decade, and try to play with the big boys of grunge, alternative and industrial rock and metal in the 1990’s. Most of those that took it on either died by the sword of remaining true to their roots, or died by the sword of trying to make a change to their sound to try and remain relevant in the changing marketplace. One band that made the decision to lay down their guns and move away to separate and differing battlefield was Ratt, who through five albums in the 1980’s and into the year 1990 had managed to attain a high level of success and popularity with their party style and glam metal tunes.
In February 1992, lead vocalist Stephen Pearcy announced that he was stepping away from Ratt to follow other pursuits, and while it was never officially announced if Ratt was going on a hiatus, or whether the band had actually split, all five members of the band went out and pursued other interests. It wasn’t until five years later, with the grunge phenomenon having finally worn down and the industrial metal side of things ramping up, that the members of Ratt moved to come together once again. With a new project looking to be in the works, guitarist Robbin Crosby was sidelined due to the ravages he was suffering after having been diagnosed as being HIV positive back in 1994, while bass guitarist Juan Croucier also decided not to participate. Robbie Crane was brought in as his replacement, and the compilation album “Collage” was released late that year. With a new worldwide record deal secured following this release, the rejuvenated four piece went about the task of writing and recording their first album with wholly new material since 1990’s “Detonator” album. After a break of nine years, and with the music industry having been through a great deal of upheaval over that period of time, it was always going to be interesting to hear just what the band would come up with for what could essentially be regarded as their comeback album. To throw more confusion into the mix, the band decided that the album title would be “Ratt”, which while being the band’s name, was also the name of their first EP back in 1984. The dual naming was not to be the only confusion part of the new album when it finally reached the shop shelves.

One thing that was obvious was that we were not going to get a glam or hair metal album from Ratt in 1999. Given the length of time since their previous new material release, it would have been something that would never have worked at that time. However, that does not reign in the surprise Ratt fans may have experienced when they first put this album on. Because, from the outset, what we are met with is a very blues rock-oriented track list, stylised completely from the vocals through to the guitar riffs throughout, and with a mid-tempo that rarely gets itself out of second gear. Producer Richard Zito brought in several guests to help co-compose some songs on the album, which does add to the style of the album. Jack Russell from Great White and Jack Blades from Night Ranger contribute, along with several others with a production and soft rock background. There is little doubt that this is a deliberate move to craft the sound that this album obviates to the listener.
“Over the Edge” taps into this immediately, perhaps only missing the true blues twang of Warren de Martini’s guitar to complete the full picture. The vocals from Stephen Pearcy are the immediate noticeable change to the albums we have heard in the past, the pulling back of his natural energy when singing makes this a less energetic sounding Ratt than we have had in the past. “Live for Today” has De Martini pushing a fuller complement of solo for his guitar, while the song actually sounds more like a latter day Def Leppard song than anything Ratt has produced before. It’s an interesting mix from the outset, with both of the opening tracks setting the platform for the layout of the album to come. Then we have “Gave Up Givin’ Up”, which is even more surprising because both vocally and with a certain guitar riff leading into the bridge and chorus, this has all the sounds that come from a Dream Theater song. Not the intensity and overplayed encompassment of the instruments, but just the sonic sounds of the track itself. The solo by de Martini lifts the song above the average once again, but the mix of tracks here and the incorporation of sounds does make this an interesting journey. Further troubles arrive with “We Don’t Belong” which is basically a country and western song, no doubt coming from the influence of one of the co-writers brought in for the album. Now we’ve already discussed that this album is different from what the band has issued before, but a C&W ballad?! Come on lads, this just won’t do.
“Breakout” returns to the blues formula from earlier in the album, and along with “Tug of War” and “Dead Reckoning” pick up the middle part of the album from the slower manifest that had come immediately prior to it. Then we have “Luv Sick” (spelled LUV) which it probably the closest the band comes to writing a song from their halcyon days, at the least lyrically if not necessarily musically. “It Ain’t Easy” is an interesting piece as well, as Pearcy actually sounds more like Axl Rose on this song than he does his normal self. Basing itself on an acoustic rock sound, it seems like a strange choice, but again appears to be at the whim of the co-writer on the track, which this time is the producer of the album. Possibly the best two songs on the album are left until last. “All the Way” is the best sounding song, best tempo-ed track, and most enjoyable of everything on this album. I think it would have been a better album overall if they had stuck to this formula more than they did. And the album closer “So Good, So Fine” rocks more than everything before it as well. It seems like an oversight to leave both of these songs until the end, when they may well have picked up the interest of the album if they had been utilised earlier in the track list.

I initially found Ratt the band through my heavy metal music dealer in high school and loved them from the outset with their first two albums, “Out of the Cellar” and “Invasion of Your Privacy”. They were hair metal gold, one of the best of that genre coming through and I played those albums to death over a number of years.
I didn’t pick up this album until about three years after its release, mainly because I wasn’t even sure the band was still together at that time, or that they released another album after all those years. So when I first got the album I was looking forward to what it contained. To say I was underwhelmed and disappointed would be accurate. As I have mentioned throughout this review, the music is of a different genre than what I had enjoyed back in the glory days, and while I did understand why that was the case, it didn’t make it any more palatable. Given the progression of metal music over the previous decade before this was released, I guess I expected the on-the-verge-of-the-millennium Ratt to be a more tuned down and aggressive style, harping on those characteristics that were most prevalent. Instead, we get what is basically a refined blues rock album, with a tempo and style that is not in the top five of my own favourite musical genres. The songs are composed well, and performed well. Pearcy’s vocals are not anything like what I expected from their original material, and there is not enough Warren de Martini magic on the guitar to help save these songs either.
Over the past week, I have listened to this album again, ten times in total, to correlate what I thought of the album at the time, and what I think of it now. My mind hasn’t been swayed from my reactions 20 years ago. I know when I first got the album I listened to it, found it was nothing like what I was listening to at that time, and shelved it. I can say with full confidence that now I have finished this podcast episode, it will return to my shelves without any qualms, where it can rest until the next time I have to do something similar to this. Which is probably never.
It would be another 11 years before Ratt released another studio album, which was also to be their last. But unlike this one, the band listened to their hearts and pulled out an amazing album. But that is for another day, a long way down the road.