REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Day: July 20, 2023

PINK CREAM 69 – One Size Fits All

Another band that were quite big in mainland Europe but didn’t do so well in the US. Pink Cream 69 have been around since ’87 but this album was released in ’91. Unlike their melodic counterparts in the US who all but disappeared after the great grunge unpleasantness, PC69 consistently released albums and toured them. At this point vocalist, Andi Deris was still a part of the band before joining Helloween and its his best record with the band. I love this album as it has that perfect blend between metal and hard rock. Plenty of crunch but the melody is never far away.

Killer start with Livin’ My Life For You, a great uptempo rocker with a great riff and groove. Talk To The Moon is even better. A slower groove but it sounds a lot heavier, and the guitar sound is awesome. Hell’s Gone Crazy keeps the band’s metal credentials in tact as the double kicks are pounding all the way. Superb hook and chorus, great guitar sound and it’s my favourite track. Do You Like It Like That was released as a single in Europe and rightly so as it’s probably one of the more commercial songs here. Ballerina closes out Side 1 and was also released as a single, but this one’s a ballad.

Maximum riffage to the intro of Side 2 opener Signs Of Danger. They do these songs so well. A great dirty riff and groove to Walkin’ Out To Heaven, plus superb leads from Alfi Koffler. Stray Kid follows and I really love the riff and vibe at the intro. The main verse and song is pure LA. Piggy Back Bitch has a cool quirky riff and groove, great middle eight. The album closes out with Where The Eagle Learns To Fly and it’s another power ballad. I never get why bands close out albums with a ballad. I’m a “go out with a bang” kind of guy.

Still a great album, though.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

TATTOO RODEO – Rode Hard Put Away Wet

Hands up for who remembers White Sister? They released two albums, the first of which was killer and then they imploded. Three quarters of the band came back to try again however in ’91 with Tattoo Rodeo. If I played you a track by each band back to back you would never know they were the same band.

The template for Tattoo Rodeo is a huge dose of southern rock, with a hint of country, and a teenie bit of old school Aerosmith. Somebody must have loved them as this was released on Atlantic. They had friends in high places, although they would desert them after this one as they would be dropped when the album didn’t sell that well. If this was released five years earlier then things could have been different.

High points for me are the opener (also my favourite) Strung Out as there is a huge dose of AC/DC in the mix which makes the song groove along nicely; Everybody Wants What She’s Got which if the whole album sounded like this then it would have been a classic; and Shotgun Johnny which is a slower paced dirty groove beast as I’m always a sucker for this type of song.

Who knows why they changed direction, maybe they wanted to latch onto what Cinderella were doing as the album does have that vibe. Not a bad album, but not a great one either.

7.5/10 from The Grooveman.