Tattoos & Tequila – Vince Neil

Producer: Jack Blades

Released: June 22, 2010

Rating: ****

I’m not sure if I am a Vince Neil fan or apologist. In light of recent events, being a Vince Neil fan almost requires that you are an apologist. He doesn’t make it easy for his fans to outwardly support him when his name frequently shows up in police blotters and TMZ headlines. While the actions of many celebrities have prevented me from supporting their careers, I’ve always been able to forgive Prince Vince. As I said, I am an apologist.

All that being said, when Mr. Wharton prepares to release a solo album, his often bad reputation rarely has an impact on its success. While Motley Crue may still be able to pack ‘em in at the arenas, it’s highly unlikely that the majority of those same ticket buyers will purchase or even know about a Vince Neil solo album. It’s not a shot at Vince, it’s just the way it is.

For Vince’s third solo studio effort, he chose to record an album of mostly cover tunes. Probably a safe decision on his part, as his last solo album of original songs, Carved In Stone, was horrendous. The album is also, supposedly, supposed to follow his autobiography of the same title. This concept isn’t a new one for Motley fans as the band’s last studio effort, 2008′s Saints of Los Angeles, was a companion to their New York Times Best Seller, The Dirt.

Cover albums have become somewhat commonplace for hair metal bands. Most of them are completely forgettable and uninspired. It’s almost like the bands put no thought or effort into making these albums. Often times, the song selection is completely obvious, which is where Vince scores points. There seems to be a certain self referential, self deprecating sense of humor about these songs. It’s hard not to laugh when you hear Vince singing songs like He’s A Whore, No Feelings and Bitch Is Back. Over the years, I have heard Vince make a number of comments that would suggest he knows exactly who he is. When you hear him sing a tune like No Feelings, it’s clear that he totally knows what his shortcomings are. It’s almost as if the song had been written about him.

Some of the album’s highlights include Nobody’s Fault, Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress and the aforementioned Bitch Is Back. Without a doubt, the album’s best track is AC/DC. I’d never heard this Sweet song before, but it’s another one that sounds as if it was written specifically for Vince. The album also contains two new songs. One, Tattoo’s & Tequila, is pretty good and the other, Another Bad Day, is okay.Vince’s rendition of Viva Las Vegas is actually the album’s only loser. Perhaps it’s the arrangement of the song I don’t care for, but the album would have been better off without it.

What’s most impressive to me is the album’s production. Jack Blades of Night Ranger fame produced probably the best sounding album I’ve heard in the last decade. What it sounds like is a classic Motley Crue album. Nikki Sixx has always been the creative genius behind Motley Crue. He’s the chief song writer and it’s always been his vision driving the band’s success. When the band recorded their last album, Saints of Los Angeles, Sixx enlisted Sixx A.M. band mate, James Michael for production duties which helped update the band’s sound. Quite honestly, I think Vince Neil might be more in tune with what Motley Crue fans would prefer to hear and I would absolutely recommend that Blades produce the band’s next album, if there is one.

Vince Neil knows his role in this world. He’s an entertainer. He’s never pretended to be anything other than that. He’s the legendary frontman from one of rock’s most notorious bands. In many ways, this is probably the most honest album he could make. For fans looking for some artistic statement, I hear that Nikki is currently writing the next Sixx A.M. album. If you’re looking for an album that will put a smile on your face, I recommend that you pick up a copy of Tattoos & Tequila.

Saints Of Los Angeles – Motley Crue

Producer: James Michael

Released: June 24, 2008

Rating: ****

Slithering towards the dream,
All infected with the same disease,
Awaiting your flesh to be cloaked in silver.
As the fat rats grovel,
Ready to steal your innocence and exploit your soul
Some will hit their knees in a rancid act of desparation
While others search for a hopeless god to save them
For every FOUR, there will be 100,000 fallen
Drowning in a cesspool of awareness that they have failed
This city…full of plastic angels will seduce you…

WELCOME TO LOS ANGELES….

And so begins one of 2008’s most anticipated rock releases. A warning of sorts, but coming from L.A.’s most celebrated scum bags, this is an invitation. An invitation to the party. An invitation to their journey. An invitation to suffer, as they have, to achieve those things in life that are worth the struggle. Perhaps it’s simply a well thought out intro to an album that supposedly “loosely” follows the story of their New York Times Best Seller, The Dirt. If that’s the case, well, then job well done boys because this intro follows in the footsteps of other great Motley intros inluding In The Beginning (Shout At The Devil) and T.N.T. (Dr. Feelgood).

The album kicks things into gear pretty quickly with Face Down In The Dirt, a battle cry for any band or person with the odds stacked against them willing to claw their way to the top in pursuit of stardom rather than live the 9 to 5 lifestyle. With lyrics like, “Met a man from mars and a couple other freaks that night,” it’s also the beginning of our heroes journey. The journey continues with the third song, What’s It Gonna Take. What makes this work for me is the lyrics. It is the story of Too Fast For Love.

Down At The Whisky continues the story, detailing Motley’s chaotic days on the Sunset Strip. This is probably the first song on S.O.L.A. that told me this was a kick-ass Crue album. This is a very melodic, mellow, very……. cool track. Reminds me a bit of the vibe they had on New Tattoo. The Saints Of Los Angeles is the albums first single and is one of the albums best tracks. This song (is it possible you haven’t heard it) KICKS ASS!! Another story teller celebrating the days when Motley was the Strips biggest attraction and brought all their fans back to their house to party, this tune has an infectious chorus that you’ll find yourself singing repeatedly.

MF (Mutha Fucker) Of The Year is up next and is one of the albums best tunes. This song is classic Crue. Middle finger in the air, fist in your face Crue. For those of you who are keeping score at home, it’s actually the way Vince sings the main verse that elevates this song to stellar status.

The Animal In Me is the albums first disappointment and is one of two songs that probably could have been left off S.O.L.A. to make it more concise. It’s a slow(er) song, but by no means is a ballad. It’s actually somewhat awkward and out of place, but by no means terrible. Welcome To The Machine in another lyrical assault on the music industry followed by Just Another Psycho which is the second song I feel could have been left off the album.

Chicks = Trouble is a foot stompin’ proclamation that, yes, chicks do equal trouble. This is one of my favorite tracks from the album. No B.S. just fun traditional Crue. Appropriately, This Ain’t A Love Song is next…… appropriate because as the song states, “This is a fuck song!”. This is the type of tune that would have fit perfectly on Girls, Girls, Girls.

I didn’t sample all of the tracks prior to purchasing S.O.L.A., but I did sample White Trash Circus and fell in love with it immediately. Another foot stomper that celebrates the Crue in all of their dysfunctional glory (If we go another mile we’re gonna kick each other’s ass). One of the albums best.

Goin’ Out Swingin’ closes the album out. A good song, but not the albums best.

There’s a lot to consider when listening to S.O.L.A. It’s the first album of original material since 2000’s New Tattoo and the first that all four original members have recorded together since 1997’s Generation Swine. Swine was recorded when Tommy Lee was still heavily involved with the creative process. New Tattoo was recorded without him. Obviously since New Tattoo the band has reunited, toured and played to sold out crowds world wide. That being said, Tommy Lee has one song writing credit on S.O.L.A. which is This Ain’t A Love Song. This is a Nikki Sixx album……… and a Mick Mars album. A lot of the album was written with James Michael and DJ Ashba, both members of Sixx A.M. It stands to reason that there will be similar styles on both albums. Good news for Crue fans is that some of the albums best tracks are the ones that Mick co-wrote.

An album isn’t just about the music (although that is the most important ingredient). It’s also about the packaging and Motley kicked ass with this release. The inner sleave pick of the band is awesome and Nikki looks God-like.

S.O.L.A. is a logical progression for Motley Crue. Since they broke up and got back together (and broke up again) this band has struggled, creatively. MC94 was a phenomenal release, but no one was listening. Generation Swine was an absolute mess and New Tattoo was a safe move after that disaster. Saints Of Los Angeles picks up where Primal Scream left off. At that moment, Motley Crue was about to embark on a more mature musical journey. I believe that this album is what Motley Crue would have and should have sounded like had the band never broken up. Does this album sound like Girls, Girls, Girls? No, but it’s not 1987 and Motley has always prided themselves on remaining current. If Girls, Girls, Girls is what you were expecting and hoping for you should listen to that album. It kicks ass and is an awesome Crue album. If you want to continue on this ever changing journey with Nikki and the boys, pick up S.O.L.A. It’s great to see that these middle aged monsters of rock still have what it takes to kick ass and offend.

Red, White & Crue – Motley Crue

Producer: Various

Released: February 1, 2005

Rating: ****

At some point in the 2000’s bands starting releasing elaborate mulit-disc Greatest Hits packages. Many of these packages had cardboard gatefold packaging as well as tell all booklets. I have several including Van Halen’s Best of Both Worlds, Elton John’s Greatest Hits 1970 – 2002 and this one, Red, White & Crue.

As I have said many times on this blog, I both love and hate Greatest Hits packages. I own tons of them, but I also get frustrated talking to people who call themselves fans of a band, yet all they own is a “Best Of” or “Greatest Hits” disc. Call me a purist.

All that being said, Red, White & Crue is a phenomenal retrospective collection of songs from a band that was never supposed to last long enough to release one Greatest Hits package, let alone, this, their second. RW&C was not only an album, but also a tour that marked the 2nd “official” reunion of the original line-up of everyone’s favorite fuck-up’s. The first was Generation Swine, but the timing (aside from the diehards) was not right. That was 1997. By the time 2005 rolled around the world was not only ready, but hungry for a reunion of rock’s ultimate bad boys.

Double disc packages like these allow bands to include all the fan friendly radio hits as well as some of the diehard favorites. These discs do just that. What’s great about RW&C is that the first disc respresents one part of the bands history (the most successful up to that point) and the second disc represents another (the bands least successful). Disc 1 contains all the radio familiar hits while the songs on disc 2 are from the bands less popular albums. Both discs contain a fair number of alternate re-mixes. Disc 1 is far more “listenable” and flows better than disc 2, which some might argue makes it the better disc. But disc 2 contains 3 new songs (1 of which is a cover) and 2 of them are spectacular. Ironically the lead single which announced to the world that the Crue was back was not only the least impressive of the 3 new songs, but I actually think the song is crap. If I die Tomorrow does absolutely NOTHING for me. Perhaps that’s because the song was written, more or less, by Simple Plan, a band I could care less about. The 2nd original song, Sick Love Song, is PURE Crue and KICKS ASS! Most impressive to me are Vince’s vocals. His voice is killer on this track. The 3rd “new” song is a cover of the Rolling Stones tune, Street Fighting Man. While originally a battle cry for the disenfranchised hippies of the 60’s somehow our fearless foursome made it a Sunset Strip Celebration.

Like I said, I am not the biggest fan of Greatest Hits packages. My guess is that most people who purchased RW&C love the first disc and tossed the second one. Diehard fans like us know that both of these discs, while showcasing a different side of our favorite band, are well worth the investment.

Music To Crash Your Car To Vol I – Motley Crue

Producer: Various

Released: 2003

Rating: ** 1/2

Box Sets, for the most part, are nothing more than an elaborate repackaging of a bands material. Some are the ultimate greatest hits packages. Some focus on a portion of an artist’s career. Music To Crash Your Car To (Vol I) is simply Motley Crue‘s first four albums (Too Fast For Love, Shout At The Devil, Theatre Of Pain and Girls, Girls, Girls) packaged together in one collection. There is the original Leathur Records release of Too Fast For Love which is nice for fans to be able to have. Essentially, it’s a different mix. There are a few odds-n-ends including some demo’s and a couple unreleased tracks. None of which are exclusive to Music To Crash Your Car To (Vol I) and can be found on the remastered Crucial Crue releases from 1997. The only track exclusive to this release (that I am aware of) is Tommy’s Drum Piece From Cherokee Studios.

As with most compilations of this sort, Music To Crash Your Car To (Vol I) comes with a fairly extensive book, which is actually the highlight of the box set. Loaded with rare pictures and two essay style articles, I am not certain that the book alone is worth the price of admission. An odd title to say the least, the members of Hanoi Rocks took issue, stating that in light of Vince Neil’s drunken driving accident that killed their drummer, Nicholas “Razzle” Dingley, Music To Crash Your Car To was a tad “tasteless”.

I suppose if you are a “completist” (I am) or if you were simply looking to buy all 4 of these albums, than this may not be a bad purchase. I still think that if you’ve never owned any of the albums in this compilation you should buy the original releases so that you can enjoy the individual album artwork and liner notes. I am a purist before I am a completist. The material contained in this box set deserves nothing less than a ***** rating, I’m simply not a fan of the format. Music To Crash Your Car To (Vol II) picks up with Dr. Feelgood, Decade Of Decadence, MC94, Quaternary and Supersonic & Demonic Relics. A third volume was planned, but has never been released. At the end of the day, if you like Motley Crue’s early work (their most popular) you should enjoy this box set from start to finish.

New Tattoo – Motley Crue

Producer: Mike Clink

Released: July 11, 2000

Rating: *** 1/2

This is one of those albums that wants to be great, but is only good. New Tattoo saw the band returning to a more “traditional” sound. On paper this should have been a great album. Mike Clink was hired to produce the album who produced a little album you may have heard of called Appetite For Destruction. Unfortunately, following the Greatest Hits Tour Tommy Lee parted ways with Motley Crue. New Tattoo would be the 2nd album the band recorded without all 4 original members. Hired to fill Tommy’s shoes was have sticks will travel veteran Randy Castillo. If I am correct this would be his last recording before his untimely death. That being said, Randy was a VERY capable drummer.

The lead off track that told me this could be a great album was Hell On High Heels. This is CLASSIC Crue. This is great hair metal sleaze. From what I understand, this was also a song the band had been kicking around for while. It makes sense because it sounds very much like a song that could have been on Theatre Of Pain or Girls, Girls, Girls. Truth be told, I’d also heard another track prior to the albums release that got me hooked. Porno Star was another classic Crue tune that any hair metal fan can sink their teeth into.

At times New Tattoo almost feels like the band is imitating the genre that they helped to create. The song New Tattoo is good song but is almost a cliche. It’s a song that you could expect any hair band to play. It could be Cinderella, Firehouse or Tesla. The album does shine at times with songs like 1st Band On The Moon (VERY much a song that celebrates everything about hair bands), Punched In The Teeth By Love (what a WICKED riff) and an appropriate cover of The Tubes song White Punks On Dope.

Where this album fails, in my opinion, is Tommy’s absence. He is the Yin to Nikki’s Yang. I honestly don’t care too much for Tommy’s work outside of the band, but he is a MAJOR part of the creative process with this band. New Tattoo is probably the bands lightest album (a crime in this genre) and I equate that to Tommy’s absence. Mike Clink produced Appetite For Destruction, a powerhouse hard rock album, but unfortunately his efforts were not as magical with this album. At times the songwriting is there and the band sounds really good, but there is SOMETHING missing.

Were it not for the band from which this album came, I would probably have given New Tattoo a much better review. The fact is, when you’re Motley Crue you need to bring your “A” game with every release. New Tattoo is a good album for this genre, but it’s just an average Motley Crue album.

Live: Entertainment Or Death – Motley Crue

Producer: Motley Crue

Released: 1999

Rating: *****

In general, I am no longer the biggest fan of “live” albums. Perhaps it’s cynicism creeping in as I grow older with each and every year. At 9 years of age discovering this music for the first time, “live” albums were an essential part of a fans collection. Too young to attend concerts, “live” albums brought you as close to the stage as your parents would allow. Lucky for me I was a KISS fan, so I had a couple of reasons with Alive! and Alive II to love “live” albums.

Beyond the age of 9 you start to learn some things about the world. Things like it is possible to fix a football or basketball game and all those “live” albums that were the soundtrack to your youth weren’t as “live” as you once thought. Yes, folks, it’s true. Live albums are loaded with over-dubs to clean up mistakes and to help make your favorite band sound perfect. I’ve read articles claiming that the only live portion of some very famous live recordings is the requisite crowd noise. In fact, Paul Stanley has been quoted as saying that, “Alive II is as ‘live’ as it needs to be.” Here’s the frontman for a band whose very success is largely due to an enormously successful live album (Alive!) claiming that the follow up is, well, not all that live.

Also, years ago a live album seemed to mean more. Often times it was a way for a band to thank their fans. These days it’s an easy way for a band and record label to part ways by fullfilling a contract. Based on all that, where do I get off giving this “live” recording a ***** rating? Well, if I recall Nikki Sixx denounced “live” albums for years for some of the very reasons I’ve mentioned. If I am correct, he lambasted Metallica’s Live Shit: Binge & Purge for being anything but live.

Which brings us to this albums ***** rating. While I am quite certain that this album has been……. cleaned up, I am also convinced that it is one of the most genuinely live albums in recent years. I mean, the album makes no effort to hide the fact that Vince likes to drop lyrics. For those of you who have seen Motley (I have 5 times) this album is a pretty fair representation of a good Motley Crue concert. Best part? Motley approached the idea of a live album from a different perspective. Rather than offering fans a recording of a single concert (sidenote: almost all live albums will reveal in the liner notes that the “album” was recorded over the course of several concerts) the band decided to release a live album that showcased recordings over the course of their entire career. The album includes recordings ranging from 1982 to 1999 (the album was released in 1999). In addition, Motley did it right and made this a double disc release. The average concert is 2 hours or more, so why the hell release a “live” CD that is 80 minutes? Finally, the album has the perfect mix of the bands singles and diehard fan favorites. There are some very cool songs included on this album. My favorite tracks are

Knock ‘Em Dead Kid
Too Young To Fall In Love
Live Wire (great intro)
Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)
Wild Side (great intro by Tommy)
Without You
Home Sweet Home (my favorite)

There are no liner notes or “thank you’s” from Tommy Lee included on this album because he had left the band during the prepartion for the albums release. The album receives a ***** rating simply because it accomplished what every live album should. It’s an accurate representation of a live concert. What fans hear on this album is what they should expect when they experience Motley Crue live in person. Sure it’s been touched up a bit (I’m sure someone will post something claiming that this album is all studio magic), but at the same time when you see a band live the experience often sounds better simply because you’re there. Blackie Lawless once said that fans often walk away from a concert thinking they’ve seen or heard things that never happened.

As far as live albums go, Motley fans should be proud of this one. Pick up a copy if you don’t have one already.

Supersonic & Demonic Relics – Motley Crue

Producer: Bob Rock & Various

Released: 1999

Rating: *** 1/2

This is very difficult to review because it was never intended to be a full blown album. It’s a collection of rarities and unreleased tracks that the band decided to release on a CD when they were re-mastering all of their albums for the Crucial Crue releases. For diehard fans this is a very worthy CD.

Five of the albums 15 tracks are the bonus tracks found on Decade Of Decadence. These are all excellent and extremely overlooked tunes. 

Teaser – This song clocks in at over 5 minutes long partially due to the ethereal solo section which is nearly a minute and a half itself. This is very cool stuff featuring a thumping, almost driving bass lines with some VERY cool guitar work from Mick. Vince’s vocals are top notch as well. This song kicks ass and I rarely hear Crue fans mention it. 

Primal Scream - This is arguably the bands last hit single. This is a killer song, it’s just sad that it was released in 1991.

Anarchy In The U.K. - A concert favorite that the band plays to this day. Motley has always done a good job of making cover songs sound like their own and this one is no exception.

Rock N’ Roll Junkie - Another slick sounding tune in the same vein as Teaser. All around great song with the band sounding near pefect. Mick’s guitar sound is stellar and Vince’s vocals are intoxicating. It’d be awesome if the band could write and record tunes like this in 2009.

Angela - This is another rarely discussed gem. An all around fun sing along tune that has received little if any attention. It’d be great if the band had the balls to put this in their set list.

The album also contains 3 tunes from the bands mail order only album Quaternary that was offered to fans when they purchased MC94 (during its initial release). The disc contained 5 songs including 1 from each band member and 1 bonus track from the band. For the Supersonic And Demonic Relics release the band chose to exclude Corabi’s solo track as well as the bonus track that he sang on. Sidenote: These are both killer tunes.

Planet Boom - This is Tommy’s song and it’s safe to say that this song very much forshadow’s some of his Methods Of Mayhem music. I happen to like it, but it’s not hair metal by any means. 

Bittersuite – This is Mick’s solo effort. Mick Mars is a huge blues fan and this song showcases that side of him very well.

Father - Nikki Sixx’s ode to abandonment isn’t terribly pleasant, but I actually enjoy it a lot more than I did when I first heard it in 1994.

The albums most interesting songs are the 5 unreleased tracks.

Sinners & Saints - Although it doesn’t say for sure, Vince’s liner notes imply that this song was recorded during the Shout At The Devil studio sessions. The song rocks. This song alone might make this album worth purchasing. It’s got a killer riff and Vince’s vocals are very solid.

Monsterous - At just 1 minute long this is one of the albums losers. It almost sounds like New Kids On The Block. It sounds as if it may have been recorded around Theatre Of Pain or Girls, Girls, Girls.

Say Yeah - Not as bad as Monsterous, but this song is fairly forgettable. It sounds like it was recorded around the same time. Some of the riffs are okay, but the chorus kind of makes me cringe and there is a section before the solo that is quite odd.

So Good, So Bad - This song might sound a little better if it had been fully produced. Some interesting guitar work here including the solo, but there is a reason why it was never included on a studio release.

Mood Ring - This is a boozy mess that is actually quite comical. At best it can be described as a jam session with Vince speaking nonsensical one liners between the breaks including, “I just sold my lightbulb to Ratt, I’m going to live with Hendrix and Janis Joplin knows how to party”.

The final two songs on the CD are an 11 minute ghetto fabulous remixed version of Hooligan’s Holiday courtesy of Skinny Puppy that is total crap and a live version of Dr. Feelgood. I find it interesting that the one song the band chose to include from the Corabi era is some lame version of Hooligan’s Holiday rather than Baby Kills. This was the band song from Quaternary and it kills! If you don’t have it, find it.

Overall I have to say I thoroughly enjoy Supersonic And Demonic Relics. It’s an odd album with absolutely no continuity, but that’s okay. Realistically, this is the stuff box sets should be made of. This is ths shit that diehard fans are aching to hear. How often have you heard that a band entered the studio with 30 or 40 songs. An album contains anywhere from 10-15 songs (average), so what happens to the rest of those tunes. That’s what fans want when they buy a box set not some lame ass over priced greatest hits package (see discussions regarding KISS’s box set).

I’d recommend this album to any diehard Crue fan.

Greatest Hits – Motley Crue

Producer: Various

Released: 1998

Rating: ****

Greatest Hits packages often serve multiple purposes. When Decade Of Decadence was released the band had 10 years of domination to celebrate. Immediately following the release of Decade, the band and Vince Neil parted ways and Motley Crue’s popularity plummeted. In the 7 years between Decade and this release the band recorded just 2 new studio albums, both of which were commercial disasters. With just 2 additional albums to draw from, it might leave fans wondering, “Why another greatest hits package?”

When a band has “lost it’s way” as Motley Crue had with Generation Swine a Greatest Hits package often helps them get “back on track”. This package only has one additional album to draw from since they decided to ignore their Corabi Crue release. Vince was back in the band, so apparently they chose to act as if nothing ever happened.

The band also reenlisted Bob Rock to produce the albums 2 new studio tracks which open the album. Bitter Pill and Enslaved are okay, but in this listeners opinion sound MUCH better than anything from the bands last studio effort, Generation Swine. The two tracks have a more modern sound and fit perfectly with the sound of the day.

The rest of the album tears through the bands, ummm, greatest hits. There are just 2 1/2 songs from Swine (thank God) which are Glitter, Afraid and Shout At The Devil 97.

I have mixed feelings about greatest hits packages. I don’t always agree with them, but I have a lot in my collection. I understand the purpose they serve and for that they are important. What’s impressive about this album is how many hits this band has been able to generate. Often times greatest hits packages consist of 1 or 2 actual “hits” while the rest of the songs are absolute crap. This album is literally the soundtrack for a 10 year time frame. If you had a pulse at some point during the last 27 years chances are you know most of the songs on this album. Is it worth buying? If your a completist like myself, yes.

Generation Swine – Motley Crue

Producer: Scott Humphrey, Nikki Sixx & Tommy Lee

Released: 1997

Rating: *

When you tackle a project like reviewing a bands entire catalog you will undoubtedly struggle with one or two of the bands albums. Unfortunately, every album released isn’t a home run. In fact, some are complete strike outs. Some of those strike outs tend to age like a fine wine and become much more palatable with the years. Others age like a rancid piece of meat left on a sidewalk in the sweltering summer heat. Generation Swine is one of those albums. It’s been 12 years since this album was released and, for me, it is more difficult to listen to now than it was in 1997.

The first clue that Generation Swine is going to differ from every other Motley album is that it was produced by Scott Humphrey. Humphrey is probably best known for his work with Rob Zombie. I love Rob Zombie and to be honest most of what I love about his music is directly related to the production. Humphrey did an excellent job with Rob Zombie. Unfortunatley Rob Zombie and Motley Crue play two different brands of music. At times Generation Swine is WAY over produced and there was a huge attempt made to try and make Motley Crue sound like anyone other than Motley Crue.

I specifically chose to review the Crucial Crue version of this album in an effort to provide some more positive input for those of you reading my blog. Highlights are few and far between on this album, some of which are specific to the Crucial Crue version.

I’ve also chosen to break the songs down in a somewhat familiar grouping:

The Good (by no means great)

Find Myself
Afraid (Swine Mix/Jimbo Mix)
Anybody Out There
Let Us Prey
Wreck Me

The Bad

Flush
Generation Swine
Confessions
Beauty
Glitter
Shout At The Devil ‘97

The Ugly (totally horrendous)

Rocketship
A Rat Like Me
Brandon
Kiss The Sky (unreleased track)

Most of the songs in the “Good” column fail to be great because they are only good for a portion of the song. There are a couple of exceptions. Wreck Me (which wasn’t on the original release mind you) is the albums best song. There is some pretty strong guitar work here and is really one of the only songs that I can listen to from start to finish. The version of Afraid that appears as an extra track on the Crucial Crue release is very cool, yet not your typical Motley Crue song.

The songs in the “bad” column are just that, BAD. These songs are so totally forgetable that when reading the titles I can’t remember what they sound like. When I listen to them I am reminded why I can’t remember. Not to mention that I am not really fond of bands that cover their own songs, so Motley loses points for Shout At The Devil 97.

The songs in the “Ugly” column are unforgiveable. Three of these four songs are shit, but Brandon takes the cake. This could be the all time worst song ever recorded. If I knew that this song was written for me or about me I would change my name. That’s how bad this song is. It makes my ears bleed. This song is Tommy’s ego run wild.

I suppose a little review of what was going on with the band would help explain this fiasco. Depending on who you believe, at some point the decision was made by the band themselves or the record company to bring Vince Neil back into the band. Their ST release with singer John Corabi had tanked and Vince’s solo “career” wasn’t breaking any sales records. The problem is that they wrote and began recording Generation Swine with Corabi and finished and re-recorded some of it with Vince. Sound confusing? So does the album. It’s a mess.

The band had also fired producer Bob Rock who had recorded the bands greatest success (Dr. Feelgod) and their biggest failure (Motley Crue). They enlisted Scott Humphrey to produce the album who Tommy had worked with when he did a guest appearance on a Rob Zombie album. I think there was far too much emphasis on trying to “update” (meaning change) the bands sound.

It’s almost painful to listen to this album because what you hear is a band who has clearly lost their way. This isn’t a good album by any means. Generation Swine is what happens when a bands popularity has waned and others try to convince them to update their sound so that they are more current and therefor attract a more youthful fan base (typically younger people spend more money on music). What ultimately happens is the band in question records an album that doesn’t sound honest, because it’s not.

Generation Swine is a must have for Crue fans simply because if you’re a diehard you should own everything in their collection. If you’re just starting out I’d make this your final purchase.

Motley Crue (MC94) – Motley Crue

Producer: Bob Rock

Released: 1994

Rating: ******

Here it is. The bands most controversial album. Fans either love it or hate it. Those who hate it claim this is nothing but a poor attempt at grunge. Those who love it know better (or at least we think we do). Personally I love this album and have never understood how this sounds like grunge. This is a straightforward metal masterpiece.

Let’s take a few steps back. The bands last full blown studio release was in 1989 (Dr. Feelgood). Five long years had gone by since Motley had recorded their #1 best selling album. When the Dr. Feelgood tour ended, the band had left the road having conquered the world. They were officially “Rawk Gawds”. They could do no wrong. Dr. Feelgood helped close a decade (of decadence, if you will) and in many ways was one of the final great releases in a genre of music that critics were hell bent on hating.

In the five years since Dr. Feelgood was released Motley’s brand of music had become very uncool. The critics and every lame ass Rolling Stone journalist had gotten their way. By 1994 hair metal was officially dead. A new brand of music, grunge, had kicked its ass to the curb and was now dominating the airwaves and MTV.

Music wasn’t the only thing that changed. Motley Crue had changed as well. Depending on who you believe, Vince Neil was either fired or had quit. Regardless, he was no longer the front man for the band. Nikki, Tommy and Mick had recruited The Scream vocalist, John Corabi to handle the frontman role. Corabi brought a much different dynamic to the band. His voice was much different than Vince Neil’s, he played rhythm guitar and wrote songs. In addition, the band had (once again) changed their look. Both Nikki and Tommy chopped their hair (a big deal back then) and their look was very un-glam.

The first song that the band released from their self titled release was Hooligan’s Holiday. I distinctly recall The Blaze! (Chicago’s hair metal/hard rock station at the time) making a huge deal when they debuted this song. I was BLOWN away.

The album was released a week or two later and I headed straight for Best Buy on new release Tuesday. I picked up two copies. One for myself and one for my buddy. They were two different “versions”. When the album was initially released the band released a red copy and a yellow copy. The songs were the same, but the inner sleeve packaging and pictures were different. Obviously the band had great expectations for this album.

The album tanked. Either fans had abandoned them for grunge or they weren’t too thrilled with the bands drastic change in sound. Motley had changed their sound with each and every album, but at the end of the day all of their prior releases fell into the hair metal, party rock format.

MC94 is NOT a party rock album. This is an angry slice of metal. Bob Rock gave Dr. Feelgood a slick, polished sound. With MC94 the sound was crisp. The drum sound is insane on this album. Whereas some of Motley’s previous releases were sloppy, this one was tight.

The album opens with Power To The Music. It’s a solid song, but not the albums best offering. However, it’s immediately clear that Tommy’s drumming is going to be a highlight of the album. This album contains his best work. This album is why he is regarded as one of the best rock drummers in the industry.

Uncle Jack is the second song and is a happy little tale about a child molester. This song is where Corabi begins to shine. This is also where you start to notice Bob Rock’s top notch production. This album is meant to be experienced with headphones because there are so many layers to uncover.

Hooligan’s Holiday is next up and this song WAILS. Corabi lets it all hang out on this song and sings his ass off. He continues his vocal onslaught with the albums fourth song, Misunderstood. This is one painfully beautiful epic tale of the disappointment that only a sad life can deliver. The song is over six minutes long and pummels the listener every second of the way.

The next two songs are two of the albums gems. Loveshine is a short, heartfelt ditty where we first discover that Corabi’s voice can be just as tender as it can be relentless. Poison Apples is a KILLER foot stomping drug smattered song that is somewhat autobiographical of the band. Christ, I could listen to Corabi scream, “We’re so FUCKING beautiful,” all day long.

Hammered and Til Death Do Us Part are up next and are the albums most somber tunes. Although Nikki has denied it, Hammered was rumored to have been written about former lead singer, Vince Neil.

Welcome To The Numb is next up and is the albums best track. This song is near perfection. It’s another layered foot stomper, this time a satirical blast on society. Once again, I can’t get enough of Corabi’s vocal talents when in Steven Tyler fashion he sings, “I don’t wanna know, I don’t wanna feel I don’t wanna be any part of your stupid motherfuckin machine!”

Smoke The Sky is next and is musically a lot like Kickstart My Heart followed by Droppin Like Flies, another sad observation on society.

The album closes with Driftaway, a very mellow and introspective reflection of a life of mistakes. It’s an odd choice to end an otherwise metal album, but it’s also a perfect choice.

Why such a long dissertation on this album? At the end of the day I am like most of you. I prefer my Motley Crue with Vince Neil. He’s the bands original lead singer and was a part of the madness that made them legends. That being said, this album is a masterpiece. It should be heard as a separate entity. Listen to it and forget that the band is Motley Crue. This album was largely ignored upon its initial release and has been all but forgotten nearly 15 years later. The shame of it is that MC94 has some of the best song writing and production of any rock album from any genre.

Corabi Crue was not meant to last, but this is an album that every fan of hard rock should own.