Mötley Crüe /Dr Feelgood(1989)

As 1989 was ending its Decade Of Decadance  Motley Crue decided to give us one more shot of syrupy,somewhat cheesy sleazy tunes all finely produced by Bob Rock. How about one more  kick at the crash cart with Dr Feelgood as we roll into 1990….

The biggest change is of course Nikki Sixx,Mick Mars,Tommy Lee and Vince Neil recorded this album sober and in Vancouver British Columbia.

Magazines such as Kerrang,Circus and Rip were all over the pre hype sober Crue and so we’re myself and Tbone! I bought whatever was printed about the Crue (back in 1989) and then would spew it at Tbone verbally to keep him up to date!

Crue was big news and what way to get even bigger hype about  a new Crue album than to start a fight with Bon Jovi over in Russia of all places when a bunch of Metal Acts gave their time (hahaha) to play a music festival called Make A Difference Foundation(say no to drugs kids) to give a jail free pass card to Doc McGhee at the time who was Motley and Jovi’s manager!( Doc got nailed with tons and tons of weed so too not got to jail he rallied all his bands to help him  out! Doc is literally Dr Feelgood! Haha)

The story goes is that when the show took place the Crue were promised things and when they didn’t get them and Bon Jovi did whatever they did it pissed off the Crue and they fired McGhee on the spot flipped out on Bon Jovi so much that when Tbone and myself caught the Crue Feelgood tour in the summer of 1990 Tommy Lee chirped “Bon Jerkoff” more than a few times during the show!

Silly multi millionaire tattooed boys looking for trouble with  non tattooed boys! Can’t we all give Peace A Chance! Hahaha…Actually I would have loved to seen a dust-up of Alec John Such (Jovi) and Mars. Ha! I could see it now….Alec putting Mars in the sleeper hold and Nikki coming in from behind with the steel chair and cracking Such over the head to free Mick!

Ok,I’m getting carried away here so back in Sept 1989 here comes Motley rocking and rolling and man when I just wanna listen to Silly Dumbo Rock! Look no further folks…..

TERROR N TINSELTOWN-Mars and his guitar along with Nikki slobbering all over his bass and Tommy smashing around the drums enter the Emergency Room and after the power opening you hear a heartbeat and some dispatcher calling for Dr David and slam your into..

DR FEELGOOD- Big loud bass rumblin along with Tommy slamming his drum kit  into overdrive! This is the new and improved 1989 Crue featuring a ton of percussion,different rhythms with Vinnie not sounding as squeaky vocally on previous albums! The Sonics here are mega huge and you got Bob Rock to thank for that! He makes Motley sound tough like they mean business and hell Bob makes Mick sound demonic in that talk box thingy and Mars even pushes  his fretboard into full-out rock mode during his blistering solo! Sheeeit Mars has stepped up, gone is the droney echoey guitar sound from the Tom Werman produced previous Crue albums….

SLICE OF YOUR PIE-Steve Tyler does his “dippy da da yah yah ” jibber at the beginning of Pie and the Crue rip into a Aero Groove with this tune! It slinks sleazy LA Rock and were all the better for it! This song is quite decent and even as I type this in 2016 it’s a solid piece of horny Cheeseball rock. In other words I lapped this shit up sonically back in 1989 and well in 2106 yeah ummmm I’m still diggin it! The end of this tune the Crue kind of monkey around with or swipe if you like The Beatles ‘She’s So Heavy” ha…Beatle Crue! Slick move and the end sounds heavy in a slow prowl groove like stomp on your neck kinda way!

RATTLESNAKE SHAKE-Tommy and his cowbell along with Count Chocula Err I mean Mick Mars leads off with some neat slide picking and here’s another Aero Like Groover complete with horns and Tommys driving drums and “Do The Shake Shake Shake” Gosh I miss the late 80s when all you had to worry about was when the next album release or tour was hitting the road or in Tbones case when the next Bad English record was gonna drop!

KICKSTART MY HEART-Mars leads the charge with Kickstart My Heart doing a Dippin N Doodlin with his wang bar and Kapow here’s Tommy and Nikki locked in and this song just slams! How can it not get you pumped. Sleazy Vinnie delivers a good lead vocal and toss in some “Whoah ……Yeahs!” You can never go wrong when you add Whoahs and Yeahs now can Ya? I always like how they chilled in the middle part of this tune where Vince yammers on about when they started the band. The song than lifts off and Mars does his talk box deal and power out a real super-duper balls out ending which goes into..

WITHOUT YOU-The ballad! Ha! Shifting gears and compared to that complete diaster of a ballad from the Girls Girls Girls Abum (Your All I Need) this is a better tune. The chorus musically is pretty good I mean the lyrics of “I’ll wilt and die!” are cornholio like yuck but still I recall Tommy Lee on MuchMusic saying that Nikki wrote this tune about Tommys marriage to Heather Locklear and  like all music like marriages it imploded! Nice gesture Nikki did  for Tommy though he probably would go bonkers if he heard this song now! Hahahaha …..

SAME OL SITUATION-This is a cool no frills straight ahead rock track that works well within the song structure of the Crue! Vince finds some coolness and rolls with it. As always, Tommy’s drums are mega huge and slam down some more cowbell please! The chorus is catchey and Wowzers,listen to Sixx  play that bass line under Mar’s guitar solo! Atta boy Nikki and whoosh this is a great track

STICKY SWEET-Some more Aero like groove and Steve Tyler is doing once again his “yippity yap yappy” schtick and we’re off! Sticky Sweet is late 80s excess kind of song and it’s friggin amazing that Sixx when the decade  went from the 80s into the 90s Sixx and his songwriting stepped up lyrically speaking in the 90s starting with Primal Scream and the opening line of “Broke Dick Dog” classic and of course the lyrics were along with the music on the 1994 Motley Corabi just gold! But here we are still in 1989 and “Shes soooo Stickeeeeeee!” Hahaha….Friggin  Sixx!

SHE GOES DOWN-Hey this song was probably my pal Rockin Roberts theme song back in the day! Ha! Hey who sampled Mars doing up his fly at the beginning of this track? Crank the video posted and listen to the guest appearances from the Cheap Trick fella’s as well! The music is quite good (cowbell and a shift of the tempo)the lyrics well its 80s cheese mo dumbo rock! Gene Simmons would have sold his soul to have these lyrics  for Kiss’ Asylum album a few years earlier!

DONT GO AWAY MAD,JUST GO AWAY-Decent single! Nice blend of electric and acoustic guitar on this track. The prechorus is well written piece of schmooz ear candy Rock! Do you remember the video to this tune when Neil was away form the Crue and then halfway thru the video they all hook up with high fives and slaps on the back like they missed each other! Friggin actors…hahahaha! Of course less than two years later (1992) Neil gets shit canned from Motley and they go all verbal postal on him in the press and well guys Don’t Go Away Mad….Just Go Away with lawyers and a payout!

TIME FOR A CHANGE-Yep in the lead singer department eventually! This tune is a departure from basically everything before it that’s on this album. Slow kinda like tune, not sappy but kinda there….

FINAL YAMMER- Ha… so Nikki pulls one more out of the hat with some decent Rock and for all intent purposes this was their last anything kind of seller! Nothin came to close after for the Crue In regards to record sales than the millions that they sold back in 1989-90.

 

RATT/Reach For The Sky(1988)

When I think of this Ratt album (gulp) 28 years later the term ‘sinking ship’ applies somewhat. When Ratt released this album in  November of 1988 myself and Tbone were all over this! New Ratt N Roll!

Ratt I can say even to this day I still can listen too and dig! They had the hooks in the tunes and of course they had your complimentary LA guitar hero(Warren DeMartini) and could actually play.

This album though for all intent and purposes is starting to show some cracks. Some  songs for the most part are pretty good some waaaaay better than others (you’ll find out shortly).

Reach  For The Sky is album number 4! The first three were all million sellers and so was  this one and in the summer of 1989 when Ratt hit the tour trail we (Tbone and Moi ) jumped at the fact that Ratt/Great White and Kix were touring and we’re gonna be playing Ladanos favourite U.S City (Duluth Minnesota)

We secured tickets through a local travel agency who sold drive down packages (hotel and concert tickets for one night since Duluth is only 3 hrs away) to go for a good dose of Live Ratt N Roll….

A few days before the show I got the call that Ratt had cancelled Duluth  due to lack of tickets being sold??!!

WHUT! …..Duluth Arena holds about 5,000 or so and here’s Ratt with a million selling album(the first three went either platinum or double platinum) Great White whose Once Bitten Twice Shy album was at 2 million sold and Kix with Blow Your Fuse which was at gold status and they couldn’t sell enough tickets.. Geezus Murphy!

We also had tickets to go see Poison/Tesla in Duluth(that same summer 1989) and Poison pulled the plug (cancelled) as someone was sick! (Ha) Me and Tbone were on a 0-2 er! Things were looking bleak of course by the end of the summer the streak ended when good Ol Bon Jovi played Winnipeg and  showed up and saved the summer from a being a complete catastrophe!

Stephen Pearcy,Demartini,Bobby Blotzer,Juan Croucier and Robbin Crosby(RIP) keep the party rolling with some good tunes and some tunes that had to haven been written hungover….

Also in Pearcys Sex Drugs Ratt N Roll Bio  he tells us that when they recorded Reach For The Sky they blew tons of cash on wasted days wasted nights(partying,firing producers) and that Juan Croucier did all the bass on computer? Double WHUT!?

“I’ve had enough,we’ve had enough Cold In Vain…she said”

CITY TO CITY-Typical Sleazey Pearcy like tune! A good opener about the Ratt  Dudes rolling from well you guessed it City To City and all points in between! The verses groove along at a mid tempo pace and Steve-o sings a good opener of a track with Croucier providing his distinctive backing vocals.

I WANT A WOMAN-Aaaaah the single! So cheesey, so hokey. I dunno about this tune as RATT is  wanting some serious ladies to dig them and not some phony baloney type girls. Really? Was Bret Michaels handing out his Kraft cheesey single slices for Ratt to devour in the songwriting deptmartment? I think so! Musically the song isn’t bad,lyrically this is asinine like Kiss and their Lets Put The X In Sex song and video (take a bow BMellis)

WAY COOL JR-Whoa! Now we’re talking Guitar Hero Warren starts this sloppy sleazy cool summer breezes riff right out of the gate. Sample in some horns to give that Aero Groove and Ratt slam one right out of the park! Blotzer on the drums  pushes the groove and Pearcy delivers the vocal. Say what you want about his voice now but in the context of Ratt it suits him  fine.

DONT BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS-Mmmm Ratt delivers a pretty decent tune except for the chorus where that’s the weak part of this tune. The verse’s are solid with some decent playing and such but the chorus lags somewhat …

I WANT TO LOVE YOU TONIGHT-1988 Power Ballad! Cue set formula slow meandering beginning verses followed with big ass chorus and here’s Ratt doing syrupy like Poison drivel! Pearcy! Kick Bret Michael’s into 1989 please. Ratt your sleazy down in the dumpster kinda rockers not some balladeers? That’s why I dug Dancing Undercover(1986)  from these guys so much it was ripping Ratt Rock no fuss and no sap crap! Dancing Undercover was about chicks on the Greyhound Bus and such and creeping around 7th Avenue Looking For Love that shit is the deal. But Ratt knew they needed to play the game.

CHAIN REACTION-Blotzer rolls up some double bass drumming and this is Ratt I like best! Straight ahead rocker,dumbo fun lyrics,catchy chorus all wrapped up with a Warren guitar solo! Watch the live vid I posted from 1988 of them performing this song live!

NO SURPRISE-“Why Live Your Life …Why!” Sings Steve -0 and Ratt slow things down to boil it’s almost like they wanna do a Aerosmith groove like tune but these songs are kinda overproduced so the swagger is lost. This song isn’t bad it’s just Ratt has done way better…

BOTTOM LINE-Things pick up as Blotzer smacks the drums and Warren plays almost a pre grungy like guitar against Pearcys voice. Bottom Line is Stephen telling the old lady that come hell or high water its you him together that’s the Bottom Line! This tune is pretty good. I am a sucker for back alley slobber rock!

WHATS IT GONNA BE-A real cool DeMartini opening riff and if Ratt would have fine tuned this song  a little more it could have been a possible single. Kinda corny lyrics but Warren basically saves this song with his playing.

WHAT I’M AFTER-Ratt bid adieu with the last track and its a good Ol Ratt Romper of a song I suppose. Nothing to really write home about. It’s just there. Typical verse,chorus,verse,chorus,Warren plays a cool solo back to the verse and end of album.

FINAL YAMMER- Reach For The Sky is kinda a hodge podge of hit n miss Ratt Rock! The album starts off strong but loses steam and certain parts lag as in Ratt is going through the motions.  Still City To City,Chain Reaction and Way Cool Jr. are all solid tracks while others if they would have tweaked around or perhaps put the recording  studio snow(blower) away things may have turned out better.

Still though I dig Ratt and their next album Detonator was a total bounce back to respectability even though the masses somewhat disagreed.

Further Ratt reading can be found here for …Invasion Of Your Privacy…….https://superdekes.wordpress.com/2015/01/16/sonic-waves-rattinvasion-of-your-privacy/

 

And Dancing Undercover here…https://superdekes.wordpress.com/2015/03/31/sonic-waves-rattdancing-undercover/