The band have been around since ’86 but this (their only album) wasn’t released until ’90. They had the same management team as Guns N Roses and Faster Pussycat, and I would say they are a cross between the two musically. They have the whole sleaze/glam thing down to a T, with the added bonus of having a hot guitar player in Pete Revern. I remember reading in (I think) Kerrang that they were to be the next big thing, but the musical climate changed and they (like every other rock band at the time) dropped off the planet. I’m a sucker for a good guitar player, and this albums scores high for the fact that Revern’s playing seriously lifts the vibe on the whole album.
The first three tracks: Come Along, Cats Got Nine and Ring My Bell are all great tracks. They all have the same vibe with a sleazy barroom groove and a catchy hook and chorus. Where The Sun Don’t Shine has a slower groove and doesn’t have the impact as the first three. Spoonful is their sleazed up take on a Willie Dixon blues standard – with a killer solo. Just Like A woman closes out Side 1 and almost enters country territory, and the surprise here is that vocalist Jimmi Bleacher ditches his rasp for most of the track, and shows he has a decent clean tone to his voice.
Side 2 kicks off with Sim Sala Bim, a short burst of backwards tracked guitar before the sleaze returns with a modified Led Zeppelin riff to Keep Me Down. Heave Hard and Lonesome Fool are the weakest track on the album and they sound like a Faces outtake. After that little blip, the last three tracks are all killer: Slow Daze with its awesome riff, the slow build of Sacrifice Me, and my favourite track on the album – Nothin But A Dream – which has some killer slide playing.
One album and done! There have been a couple of failed attempts at comebacks, but nothing came of them.
8.5/10 from The Grooveman.
