MOTLEY CRUE – New Tattoo (2000 Motley records, EU edition with bonus track and 2 CD edition)
The worst Crue album? Could be Theater of Pain, Generation Swine, or 2000’s New Tattoo. I don’t like speaking ill of the dead, but Randy Castillo was not a suitable replacement for Tommy Lee. Tommy Lee isn’t a great technical drummer by any stretch, but he has bombast and his songwriting is crucial to the Motley sound. Here, the songwriting void is filled by future Sixx A.M. collaborator James Michael.
The drum sound is flat and lifeless, the guitar is dry, and there is simply no fire here. The songs drone from soundalike to soundalike, and you will forget which is which. This is the Crue on cruise control if not pure autopilot. Of course, the band hyped this as a “return to the roots” album, which it is not. The Crue’s roots are bombastic loud chrome plated sleezy metal with loads of attitude and aggression. This is dull, pointless, meandering rock that goes nowhere. Without Tommy, I am inclined to say there is no Crue. Compare this to the Vince-less self titled 1994 album, a 5/5 star release all the way. Who is more crucial to the band’s energy?
Not one, I repeat, not one great song here, but plenty of mediocre ones. “Hell On High Heels” isn’t too bad, but it’s certainly not up to the standards of Motley Crue singles past. Also half decent is “Punched In the Teeth By Love”, a title which dates back to 1991’s Decade of Decadence. Unfortunately the majority of New Tattoo is clogged up with dreck like “She Needs Rock N’ Roll”, “Hollywood Ending” and the title track. Nothing stands out after numerous listens.
MVP: Mick Mars, who always seems to nail a tasty solo when needed.
The saving grace to this particular release is the live disc with Samantha Maloney (ex-Hole) on drums. It is more fun and entertaining than the album itself, but maybe that’s because the live disc is 66.6% oldies. The two demos included are no better than the album versions, but collectors should be aware that Europe got a version with a different bonus track called “Time Bomb”. On top of that, Japan got an exclusive song called “American Zero”. It’s too bad it was relegated to Japan alone, because it might be the only track that actually hearkens back to the good old days.
Avoid. A bore and a chore to listen to. Pick up 1994’s self-titled release instead.
RECORD STORE TALES Part 264: Garbage Removal Machine
The year was 2004. I had always been an active on various “social media” but back then the place to be was called IAM. Iam.bmezine was the full name, but it was where I spent most of my time, and where some of the journals that appear here today originated.
I had joined an IAM book exchange group and specified that I was interested in collecting Stephen King. Someone sent me The Stand and I was hooked, so I wanted to get more into the mythos. This girl from Thunder Bay, Ontario sent me a few more as well. A little bit later, she moved to Waterloo for school. We met at William’s coffee pub to exchange some more stuff. She was wearing a Motley Crue – Girls, Girls, Girls T-shirt.
One thing led to another and we ended up going out. She came over to my place and we watched a couple rock movies. She was into all things “retro”, so I decided to give her all my old cassettes. Everything that was duplicated on CD, I gave to her. All my Iron Maiden, all my Judas Priest, Motley Crue, Van Halen…everything that I had on disc. She gladly took them, and I gladly took back my storage closet.
In return, she gave me her copy of Motley Crue’s DVD Lewd, Crued & Tattooed – Live. “It sucks,” she said. “Vince Neil sucks now. I was so disappointed.” I didn’t have the DVD, and it wasn’t especially high on my radar because yes, the Crue had been sucking as of late. However the presence of Samantha Maloney on drums (filling in for the terminally ill Randy Castillo) meant that it was the kind of one-off that I enjoy owning.
One of the better performances
A couple of weeks went by with Thunder Bay Girl, but my guard was up; my spider senses were tingling. I felt like she was obsessing a bit. A bit later she told me that the reason she sent me the Stephen King books in the first place was just to contact me; she went out to a used bookstore, bought a couple Kings and sent them to me. I know, not exactly So I Married An Axe Murderer behaviour, but there were other factors that made me start to feel uncomfortable. When she asked me what I wanted for my birthday that year, I decided to pull the plug before it got too far.
I did the manly thing, and dumped her by email. I know, I know. All I can say in my defense is that I was right. My spider senses detected something alright. Although it didn’t happen immediately, she eventually exploded like a powder keg. We chose to “remain friends” (not a good idea) but friendship soon turned to a hateful obsession. She exploded on me one day — something about a ferret? Eventually she moved back to Thunder Bay, and I never heard from her again. I like to think that she took my tapes with her, and dumped them in a Thunder Bay landfill out of pure spite. Although I wish I had kept some of those cassettes, I’ve decided to maintain a safe distance from Thunder Bay at all times. It’s the only way to be sure.
Here’s Uncle LeBrain with a dose of reality: This DVD sucks. Truly. It sucks. The New Tattoo album wasn’t great to start with, but this is awful. The awfulness can be boiled down to one factor: Vince Neil, the laziest singer in rock. Here, a breathless Neil does his thing: lets the crowd sing half the song, skips every other word, and weasels his way out of the tough notes. Set-list wise, this relies heavily on the Motley hits with very little deviation. Which is good, can Vince even remember the lyrics to obscure tunes?
So embarrassing is Vince Neil’s performance on this DVD that I have only managed to watch the whole thing twice. The main reason to own it is Samantha Maloney. Diehard Crue-heads will remember that drummer Randy Castillo had replaced Tommy Lee, but himself had to sit out the tour due to the cancer that eventually killed him. Ex-Hole drummer Samantha Maloney, the first and only girl to be in The Crue, took his place and did admirably well. It all came to an end when she hooked up with Nikki Sixx. You knew these guys just could not be in a band with a girl.
A second reason for me to keep this in my collection is “Nobody Knows What It’s Like To Be Lonely”. This is an audio-only track, and also the first-ever official release of one of the earliest Motley songs. To date, the only official release. It was recorded in May 1981 at the same session that yielded Motley’s first single “Toast of the Town” / “Stick To Your Guns”. I believe the song used to be known as “I Got the Power” and was written by Nikki Sixx for his old band, London. It does piss me off that this audio track is only on a DVD, not a CD, but I’m sure those more tech-savvy than me can rip it to an mp3 file.
RECORD STORE TALES Part 251: Punched In the Teeth By Love
Back in December of 1991, an old M.E.A.T Magazine article on Motley Crue revealed a cool little nugget of an exclusive. Motley were promoting their first “greatest hits” CD, Decade of Decadence. Like any good official compilation album should, it contained three brand new songs. They were heavier, alluding to an evolution in direction for Motley Crue. However there was a fourth new song that didn’t make the cut:
It always disappointed me that since Vince Neil left the Crue in early ’92, that song title never appeared on their next album. Too bad, I thought. Something about the title jumped out at me; I was looking forward to hearing the song, but it never came out. Bummer. Especially since I did indeed get “punched in the teeth by love” (figuratively) and been knocked out a couple times. But you could never keep me down for the count, I always bounced back.
Any time I broke up with some girl back then, I’d always tell the guys at the record store the same thing. “Man, I need to write a song called ‘Punch In the Teeth By Love’!” I figured, since Motley Crue hadn’t used it, the title was up for grabs! I threw some words and a rudimentary riff/melody together as a joke but it never went beyond that. It always generated a few laughs though, and laughing at work is healthy, especially when you’ve been punched in the teeth by love.
Of course later on (1997) Vince Neil did rejoin Motley Crue. Later still, after Tommy Lee quit the group acrimoniously, they released possibly their worst ever album New Tattoo (2000). Interestingly, that album’s track #7 was called “Punched In the Teeth By Love”!
I don’t presume this to be the exact song that would have come out in 1991, since Randy Castillo (Tommy Lee’s replacement) is credited as a writer. Maybe the lyrics are recycled, maybe just the title, whatever: it doesn’t matter. Finally “Punched In the Teeth By Love” surfaced and as hoped it was one of the heaviest songs. The riff was pretty generic, but Mick Mars’ guitar work is impressive. I’ve always felt Mick has grown as a guitar player tremendously, especially since Dr. Feelgood. It’s certainly not the greatest song, but it rocks hard enough and has a cool gang vocal chorus, so I’ll give it a B or a B+.
It was considered to be worthy of the concert setlist in 2000 (Samantha Maloney on drums now, filling in for the terminally ill Randy Castillo). It was played only on that tour though, and it was not included on any Crue compilation since then, including the double Red, White & Crue. So I’d like to bring your attention back to this track, a pretty good if not great dirty little Motley Crue song: “Punched In the Teeth By Love”!
A short while ago, Jon and I were discussing the Motley Crue “reunion” album, Generation Swine(review here). I told him that I was still looking for the original Japanese edition, which had a bonus track called “Song To Slit Your Wrist By”. Even though I already knew the song from Nikki’s side project, 58, and didn’t like it, I still wanted Motley Crue’s version for my collection. I found one on eBay for just over $30 which is the best price I’d ever seen. I bought it, it shipped.
Then Jon told me: “The bonus track ‘A Song To Slit Your Wrist By’ wasn’t a Crüe song at all, it was taken from Nikki Sixx’ very underrated sideproject 58.”
Rats!
See, for me as a collector, that sucks for two reasons. If the song is by 58 and not Motley (and he’s exactly right, that’s indeed what it is), then it gets pushed way out into a far orbit of my collecting priorities. Second, I already had the damn thing a long time ago on the 58 album Diet For A New America!
I knew it wasn’t a pristine copy and the packaging had yellowed, so no big deal. The plastic outer case has also got a bit brittle and a piece cracked off in shipping. Again, no big deal, last time I saw this CD it was a lot more expensive, and didn’t have the obi strip. It comes with a really cool generous booklet (in Japanese unfortunately), exclusive to this release, so that helps to make up for the lack of an exclusive bonus track.
In alphabetical order, here’s Part 3: 88 albums that meant the world to me in the 1990′s but never got the respect I felt they deserved.
King’s X – Faith Hope Love (most KX discs didn’t get the attention they deserved!)
King’s X – Dogman
King’s X – Ear Candy
King’s X – Tape Head
Kiss – Carnival of Souls (while you can’t argue it wasn’t a sellout, it sure wasn’t wimpy!)
Leadfoot – Bring It On (Karl Agell and Phil Swisher ex-COC)
Marillion – Brave (what a brave, brave album)
Marillion – Radiation (a lot of people don’t like this one, but I consider it a highlight for them)
Duff McKagan – Believe In Me (diverse, fun and pissed off)
Kim Mitchell – Aural Fixations (a little soft, but Kim in the 1990’s was scarce indeed)
Kim Mitchell – Kimosabe
Motley Crue – Motley Crue (they were better without Vince, honestly)
Vince Neil – Exposed (…and Vince wasn’t doing too badly himself)
Ozzy Osbourne – Ozzmosis (it sold by the buckets, but I think today it’s ignored which is a shame)
Poison – Native Tongue (Ritchie Kotzen took them to a new level of maturity and virtuosity)
Pride & Glory – Pride & Glory (Zakk Wykde’s first album without Ozzy, and one of the best)
Queen – Innuendo (in North America, most of what Queen did went ignored before Freddie passed)
Queensryche – Promised Land (spacey and mature)
Queensryche – Q2k (riffy)
Quiet Riot – Terrified (the only thing they’ve done since the 80’s worth playing)
David Lee Roth – Your Filthy Little Mouth (I didn’t need to hear Dave do reggae but it ain’t bad)
David Lee Roth – DLR Band (John 5 on lead guitar…crank it up)
MOTLEY CRUE – Generation Swine (1997, 2003 Motley Records reissue)
It is hard to believe that the mighty Crue, who had released the record of their lives in 1994 (Motley Crue with Corabi on vocals) put out this bunk next. Such was the 90’s. Fans did not embrace Corabi as predicted, the album flopped, and immediate pressure was on the Crue to kiss and make up with Vince Neil. So that’s what they relectantly did.
The Crue were already in experimental mode when Corabi was still on board. They had already said that this album wouldn’t be produced by Bob Rock (a shame, that was) and that it would be more “raw” and “heavy”. Then, as time went on, you started hearing things like, “The new album is Motley Crue meets Sisters of Mercy with the intensity of Nine Inch Nails”. Bands that have nothing to do with the Crue’s roots. In the end, the band was spinning tires so fast that Corabi couldn’t handle it anymore and Vince was brought back. All of this is well documented in the latter half of Motley Crue: The Dirt. A five-piece Crue with Neil singing and Corabi on rhythm guitar was briefly considered (damn! that would have been sweet!), but it was the original four-piece sans Corabi that became the next Motley Crue lineup.
And what they made together was just…what the fuck is this? Remember when Crue showed up at the AMA’s and lip-synced that new techno-y sample ridden version of “Shout at the Devil”? What the hell was that?
I place the blame squarely on the head of producer Scott Humphrey. Humphrey was actually from around here. People who know Humphrey personally have said he’s always been a tech-head. Just listen to his records with Rob Zombie. That’s fine. But here, Humphrey uses all his techno-wizardry to suck the life out of Motley Crue, no mean feat. The band must also share the blame, as they should have stopped the directionless proceedings before it got too far. In the end though, Motley Crue continued on with this sound, even over Mick Mars’ very strong objections. Mars was sidelined in the recordings, but it turns out Mick was right about Generation Swine.
Generation Swine (formerly: Personality #9 while Corabi was in the band) is the most confusing, un-Motley disc ever recorded. The drums are processed and sampled to the point where there may as well have been no live drummer. It may as well be a computer rather than Tommy Lee, for what it sounds like. The guitars, also sampled, squeezed, processed and spat out by a computer, show little of Mick’s spark and feel. I can see why Mick was pissed off. Vince’s return was hardly worth bally-hooing, as he’s barely able to wheeze out a passable melody here. In fact, both Sixx and Lee take lead vocals, too. What kind of reunion album is that?
The real shame of it is that these songs could have turned out quite well. Check out “Let Us Prey”. It is easy to imagine what this sounded like when Corabi was singing it. In fact he insists that his vocals are still intact in the mix, and that you can hear him scream on the choruses. Corabi also says his rhythm guitar parts on the album are intact too.
But I digress. The point is, songs like “Let Us Prey”, “Generation Swine”, “A Rat Like Me”, and “Anybody Out There?” show enough of the original Motley spirit that this could have been a halfway decent album. However each of those four songs are choked to death under a muffled blanket of samples, sound effects, bells & whistles, and processed unnatural guitars and drums. It’s a shame because any of those four songs (the only solid hard rockers on this disc of slow paced dreck) had potential. Also decent was the single, “Afraid”, although it sounds more like Def Leppard.
To add weirdness on top of the confusion, the album closes with a track called “Brandon” sung by Mr. Thomas Lee Bass himself. “Brandon, I love you. I love her. She is your mom.” Yes, he actually sings that. God knows what he was thinking when he wrote that lyric. Nikki Sixx’s “Rocketship”, a hippy dippy ballad for his wife is slightly better, but why not get Vince, the singer of Motley Crue, to sing it? Nikki’s not an especially good singer – that’s why he plays bass. Yet he insists on singing three songs, on Vince’s comeback record. I still don’t get that.
People, do yourself a favour. It doesn’t matter that Vince Neil came back for this album (it was mostly finished before he came back anyway). Check out the 1994 album with Corabi, a truely heavy beast that will probably blow your head off if you’re not wearing a helmet. It is a beautiful record. This is not. And don’t worry about the bonus tracks on the reissue. The demos are no better than the album tracks. Nobody needed a demo of “Confessions” with Tommy singing.
Excluded: A techno song only released on the Japanese disc called “Song To Slit Your Wrist By”. An expensive trinket. I don’t own it myself. The only time I saw it up close and personal was at a record show in London, and the vendor was asking $70 for it.
MOTLEY CRUE – Theater Of Pain (1985, 2003 Motley Records remastered edition)
Crue’s third was a mess, a smokey muddy mess of an album that served only to confuse and disappoint those who were enthralled with Shout at the Devil. The Crue, now wearing ridiculous striped (stryped?) jester suits had dropped the chromium metallic sheen of Shout, and replaced it with nothing but a notable lack of direction.
Theatre of Pain was one of the most anticipated albums of the ’85, and one of the most biggest disappointments. Yes, “Smokin’ In The Boys Room” is a fun jokey novelty, but it is also a novelty cover. “Home Sweet Home”, billed by the band as their “Dream On”, is not really. Broken down, it is a cliche-ridden proto-ballad, the type of thing that every L.A. band has done at least once. And usually, better. I mean, think about it — you can name better ballads by Bon Jovi or Cinderalla, can’t you? I can.
There is precious little metal on this album, the terrible “Use It or Lose It” being the only foot on the gas pedal, but itself also being nothing more than a grade C song worthy of most bands’ album outtakes. There is absolutely nothing on this album that would have made the cut on the great Shout at the Devil. Even a track like “Louder Than Hell”, one of the better songs, was demoed for Shout and dropped; the band obviously lowered their standards.
The mix is muddy, an alcoholidaze of robotic drumming and lifeless, uninspired vocals. You can hear the wasted band barely trying. Or, rather, trying as hard as they were capable given the chemicals. If a major band released this today as the followup to a beloved classic, it would be a career-ender. Not so with the Crue, as the 80’s were much kinder.
Bonus tracks on the remastered edition are laughable. Did we really need three versions of “Home Sweet Home”? The vaults must be a lonely place indeed. Tommy’s sleepy “drum piece” is worthy only of the skip button.No standout songs, terrible mix, and dull performances aside, the one guy who swims to the top is Mick Mars, who plays several solos that rise above.
1.5/5 stars
1. City Boy Blues
2. Smokin’ in the Boys’ Room
3. Louder Than Hell
4. Keep Your Eye on the Money
5. Home Sweet Home
6. Tonight (We Need a Lover)
7. Use It or Lose It
8. Save Our Souls
9. Raise Your Hands to Rock
10. Fight for Your Rights
11. Home Sweet Home [Demo Version]
12. Smokin’ in the Boys’ Room [Alternate Guitar Solo-Rough Mix
I decided to dust off the ol’ guitar today to do some writing and recording. I haven’t played a note in two years. Needless to say my fingers hate me right now. But I got the job done and a piece of music I don’t hate.
My weapon of choice (my only guitar) is the Vince Neil Washburn, a limited exition axe exclusive to Future Shop stores in Canada. It was limited to 2500 pieces, numbered, and retailed originally for $299.99. I got mine on clearance — $69.99, including the little practice amp, three Vince Neil picks, strap, and certificate of authenticity with Vince’s autograph. A close inspection reveals that it’s actual pen, not just printed on.
When I told people about my purchase, they’d usually respond, “Wait…isn’t Vince Neil the singer from Motley Crue?” Yes, he played guitar once in a blue moon live, but I guess that’s why I got mine so cheap on clearance. And it wasn’t the last one; my buddy Chris bought one too and re-sold it for profit.
Currently, there are none on eBay, so I suggest if you find one at a decent price, may as well pick it up! It’s a decent sounding guitar, the amp works as a practice amp but for me to record with, not so hot. I’m not really a guitar player, I can basically just play my way around blues scales, so I can’t really really review it as an instrument — just as a collector.
A sample of how the Vince Neil Washburn sounds can be found below. (Reminder: I am NOT a guitar player!)
Nikki Sixx – “Sounds like it could have been on our first album.”
LeBrain – “Bullshit!”
Don’t be fooled by the hype. “Sex” is a good song, but it sounds nothing at all like anything on Too Fast For Love. It sounds like it could have been on Saints of Los Angeles. Which is fine, if you like that album. I do like that album, I think it is a good Motley album. Not a great Motley album like Too Fast, but certainly better than, say, New Tattoo.
I think what Nikki did with “Sex” was to try, on purpose, to write a single. A single in a particular style, that being, hard rock Motley Crue. And I think that is what I don’t like about it, it sounds contrived.
So, that’s what “Sex” is: An overproduced single with lots of backing vocals, loud drums, and some guitar effects. The chorus is fine, copping the “woah, yeah” from “Kickstart My Heart”, only not as good. I’ve heard the song a few times now, for $1.29, it was painless to buy. It just fails to excite me. Not the way “Feelgood” did in the summer of ’89, and “Primal Scream” did in ’91. Those summers, I could not get those tunes off my deck! I don’t think I will be going back to listen to “Sex” too often, unless there’s something going on here that I’m just plain missing right now.
Having said that, Mick’s solo is cool and I think he’s an underrated player.
2.5/5 stars
(NOTE: I hate downloads! I like physical product! I want liner notes! Who produced it, who wrote it?)
MOTLEY CRUE – Shout at the Devil (2003 remastered edition)
If Too Fast For Love was nothing more than a gloriously wreckless demo pressed to vinyl, then perhaps Shout is the first “real” Motley Crue album. It is certainly among the best, with only Too Fast and ’94’s self-titled coming close to the metallic goodness of this disc in my world. It is a shame that the original cover did not survive to CD (a pentagram embossed on a pure black cover) because it was a statement of purpose: You are about to Shout at the Devil.
Instead, the CD (and cassette!) cover had four makeup wearing dude-chicks scowling, primping, preening and teasing. However, it was the 80’s, and it was OK then. Don’t let the cover scare you away. The Japanese vinyl replica CDs also have a replica of the original pentagram cover. I had one years ago, but sold it off to buy the remaster with bonus tracks. But we’ll get to those later.
The album opens with a piece that, when we were kids, I loved and played over and over again because it just sounded cool: the spoken-word “In The Beginning”. “In the beginning, good always overpowered the evil of all man’s sins…” It sounded cool, so we used it on Halloween tapes and just about anything else we could think of.
Then, the opening chords of “Shout At The Devil” hit you right between the eyes, Mick’s guitar as wreckless and hammering as ever. The man had yet to really discover his bluesier talents; for now he was just content to sloppily riff you to death. All is well. Vince Neil drunkenly slurs every lyric, but it works. Tommy’s drums are as simple but as hard hitting as ever. Really, Tommy’s not a great technical drummer but his hard hits give him a great sound perfect for this album.
You should know most of these songs: The adrenaline rush that is “Looks That Kill”, the mid-tempo harmonies and drama of “Too Young To Fall In Love”, and even the Beatles cover “Helter Skelter”. Side two of the album is the real surprise, loaded with non-singles that kick as much butt as the singles. “Red Hot” is a proto-thrash number, while “Knock ‘Em Dead, Kid” is as good as anything on side one. There’s also the equally good but controversial “Bastard”. The PMRC attacked it for the line, “In goes my knife, I pull out his life, consider that bastard dead.” When I was 12 years old, we owned this on cassette. There was no lyric sheet and Vince Neil slurred so much, you couldn’t make out the lyrics. I had no idea at all what he was singing until about a decade later. By then I was old enough to understand that it’s just storytelling.
There’s a bit of filler in “God Bless the Children of the Beast”. It’s nice for Mick Mars fans, a caveman version of neo-classical guitar, but otherwise it’s just an intro to the manic “Helter Skelter” cover. Kind of like how Sabbath used to throw in a slow instrumental just before hammering you once again with riffage, just that I think Sabbath’s stuff was a little better executed.
The bonus tracks here are rough and not nessesary, except for collectors (like this guy!). “I Will Survive” was completely unreleased until the first run of Crue remasters came out. It’s a decent track but not up to the album’s lofty standards. “Hotter Than Hell” is a demo version of “Louder Than Hell” from the next album. (Not availablke on this CD is a great track called “The Black Widow”, finally released a little later on Red, White & Crue. Also missing is “Sinners and Saints” which is on Supersonic & Demonic relics.)
There are also three more demos from the albums sessions: “Shout”, “Looks That Kill” and “Too Young”. The 1999 remastered edition did not have “Too Young To Fall In Love”. That was a Japanese bonus track instead.
There’s also a music video for “Looks That Kill” for your PC if you care, but I don’t. All the Crue vids were made available on the Greatest Hits DVD.
I believe Shout At The Devil is the essential Crue album to own, and also a great metal album for any collection. Yes, Priest, Sabbath, Maiden and Purple are the cornerstones, but Motley Crue for a short time were the flag bearers. This is a great sloppy metal meal, a burger and fries with all the works. Enjoy the meal.
mikeladano.com 