Guns and just the sort of song that makes you think Phil and Tracii have not just sat down in the same room but really reconnected. L.A.Guns is back baby! On an album that’s already managed to impress ‘Sticky Fingers’ is another cool cut, moodier, more mid-tempo, a little darker even, but still very recognizably vintage sounding L.A. Many of course will also have seen the video its a great song and one that really underlines what this album could be! ‘A Drop Of Bleach’ that follows again manages to capture that vintage L.A.Guns feeling nice and dirty with Phil singing his heart and perhaps more of a hard hypnotic groove than back in the day but still one to raise that smile. It’s the next track ‘Speed’ that is more the sort of song I expected to open – its rocking hard right out of the gates and has an almost Judas Priest-like riff driving it on. Listening to the album a dozen times now I’ve completely revised my opinion I love it to death and even hear a little vintage Aerosmith circa ‘…Hard Place’ in its blood. Opening with ‘It’s All The Same To Me’ and its chunky riff and trademark vocals I must admit first listen I was feeling a little flat, it’s not that it wasn’t a perfectly serviceable song its just that to kick off what fans have been waiting close to two decades for I’d sort of expected something a little fierier and a little more recognizably “1988 all over again”. So despite the relative disappointment of the 1999 ‘classic line-up’ reunion which produced only re-recordings of old material before the first departures, I’ll admit to being excited by the prospect of this release. Guns and that first album were the soundtrack to many a great night and seeing the band a dozen times over those first few years was always a sight to behold at places like my beloved Rock City and further afield over in L.A. When I used to go to Rock clubs in my teens L.A. For those that had hoped for a reunion of the classic line-up though it’s not there – there’s no Mick Cripps, Kelly Nickels or Steve Riley ( Nickey Alexander of course playing on the debut but leaving before release) but at least it’s Guns and Lewis right? The cover is also a take on that classic first album with the band emblem of a police style badge bearing a skull and two guns looking rather battered almost 30 years on. When the album cover art to a record named ‘The Missing Peace’ shows a beaten band logo with the missing ‘piece’ bearing the name ‘Guns’ you kind of get the idea, it’s not subtle but it gets to the point – the fights are over and Phil Lewis and Tracii Guns are now back together under the banner of the band Guns formed in 1983 and Lewis joined in 1987.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |