Tag: rough cutt

This was the second and last album from LA’s nearly guys. They seemed to play swap the member with Ratt in the early days. Ironically, Ratt would achieve success whereas Rough Cutt didn’t. I think that’s down to the fact that their songs were not that commercial.

That doesn’t make them bad, on the contrary, they did what they did very well. Bad Reputation for instance is a ripping tune and coincidentally my favourite. Any band would have given their right nut for that song, it’s just not mid eighties top 40 material. I think the closest they got to commerciality on this record is Don’t Settle For Less. It’s got a great in your face production with a massive guitar sound, coupled with a very infectious hook and chorus – this should have been released as a single.

The other song that really does it for me is Let ‘Em Talk. It has a pounding groove but with a really cool vocal melody in the main verse that no other band were doing at the time, this made Rough Cutt quite unique in how they approached their songs.

I really like this album and remember being blown away with guitarist Amir Derakh at the time as he had that little something that set him apart from the crowd. Cool record.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

Rough Cutt are another band that are more famous for the people that passed through, than the actual tunes they played. Jake E Lee, Craig Goldy, Parramore McCarty, and Jimmy Crespo to name but a few, but it was Paul Shortino’s voice that was the strong point here.

This album was released in ’85, the perfect time as rock was king in ’85. They had everything going in their favour, yet they never quite clicked. Could it be the tunes?

Well, the first track Take Her was co-written with Ronnie Dio, and is a killer opening to the record, laying down a cool heavy blues groove. Next, is a cover of Piece Of My Heart made famous by Janis Joplin, and it’s okay, but the vibe is quickly extinguished after the killer opening. Never Gonna Die sees the band diving in to aor territory with a soft melodic rocker, perfect for radio of the time. It’s power ballad time next with Dreamin’ Again and well, it’s just another ballad really, until the middle section when the twin guitars of Amir Derakh and Chris Hager let loose. Side 1 closes out with Cutt Your Heart Out, this is my favourite track. It’s a great uptempo rocker and they really are a different band when they put the pedal to the metal and just let those guitars loose.

Black Widow opens up Side 2 with a very awesome and dramatic intro that keeps going into a slow heavy groove. Ballad time again with You Keep Breaking My Heart. Kids Will Rock is a weird little track and takes a while to get into the main groove and the sing-a-long hook and chorus. Dressed To Kill is a standard LA strip glam rocker and so is the last track, She’s So Hot.

It’s a solid album, but it’s just missing that track to lift it.

7.5/10 from The Grooveman.