Faster Pussycat - s/t
Details :
- Year of release : 1987
- Label : Elektra
- Review Format : LP
The second album in this Anglo-American Opinions series is one of the picks by Mark over at Heavy Metal Time Machine. Faster Pussycat were one of the LA bands to emerge at the end of the 80s, full of energy, with bigger hair and wearing more make-up than your girlfriend ever dreamed of! I picked this album up in a job lot a few months ago but hadn’t actually got around to playing it until now and I reckon it’s a good choice as where I grew up, right in the heart of the British Midlands, is about a light year away from the LA scene!
Faster Pussycat aren’t a band totally unheard of in the UK. They have visited these shores on occasion and the album Wake Me When Its Over got some attention in my circle of friends back in the day but to be honest they never got anyway near the heights Poison achieved over here and hardly rate a mention when we’re talking about the LA era’s golden band Guns N Roses.
The album opens up with a prime piece of party rock in the shape of Don’t Change That Song. I remember this getting a bit of play on MTV Europe’s Headbanger’s Ball and to be fair it is a song that will stick in your head… like a migraine perhaps but it’ll stick! Touches of AC/DC in the solo but for the main part it appears to me they were trying to tread the path beaten by Poison who had already enjoyed a bit of success over here in 1986 with Look What The Cat Dragged In. The really big problem for me with this song though, and much of the album, is the high pitched nasal drawl of lead singer Taime Downe. It’s his voice that detracts heavily from the second track Bathroom Wall as well. Leaving aside the fact that it’s party rock again with fairly tacky lyrics, this one actually had me checking the credits as away from the punky chorus, the rest sounds like Eddie Cochran’s ‘20 Flight Rock’ musically.
Things pick up with the slowed down No Room For Emotion. At last I can stomach the voice as they play something that has roots I’m sure in Aerosmith for them and thus ultimately The Rolling Stones. This is much better but unfortunately the albums high point is achieved early here too. The sleaze rock of Cathouse follows and whilst this isn’t the worst song on offer, reminding me of the heavier output from Guns N’ Roses first album and a bit of Motley Crue, I’m struggling with the delivery and phrasing of the lyrics again.
Track five, Babylon, seems to change style a good deal and tries the formula used by The Beastie Boys on Fight For Your Right To Party. It sounds a little too derivative for me as that Beastie’s song was a big hit over here. The high pitched sampled “pussy cat” effects date the song badly too. I also noticed guitarist Mitch Perry who I saw live early in 1988 with McAuley Schenker Group was brought in for some guitar on this track and though I admit it does have a fuller sound I wonder why he was used?
Side two opens with a song called Smash Alley which shares some similarities to Skid Row’s Piece Of Me I think. This may indicate that Faster Pussycat had some influence on later emerging bands but for me I can’t get away from the thought “poor man’s Poison”, and I’m not that great a Poison fan. Interesting variation of the Batman theme for the rhythm on this track though it, like following number Shooting You Down, are still in the realms of fairly basic, unchallenging, party rock ‘n’ roll to my ears.
City Has No Heart is a great title for a song and hints at depth and a song full of sentiment and it’s there to some degree. “Hole in the ceiling where the rain comes in and washes away hope and feeling” is a good line (and I apologise if I didn’t get it spot on but no lyric sheet with my LP) but loses some of its meaning when delivered in this sleaze-rock style. Check out The Kinks ’60s hit ‘Dead End Street’ to really get some clear image of the destitution of this sort of situation. The final nail in this songs coffin is the pre-solo breakdown that sounds like it was written with live audience participation in mind. A shame as I’d like to have heard this song delivered in the slower way that No Room For Emotion was.
A decent guitar riff heralds Ship Rolls In but my distaste of Downe’s voice is getting the better of me now I’m afraid. The solo goes some way to saving this song though, and again the work of Brent Muscat on final track Bottle In Front Of Me is quite likeable. This one really has more than a hint of Aerosmith about it but but unfortunately the trashy style overall just hasn’t worked for me and on the whole much of this album its quite forgettable.
Summary : I don’t mind playing one of Poison’s early two or three albums now and again if I’m in the mood for some party-rock LA style but for me this falls some way short of even their standard. Musically this was alright but the singer’s voice was extremely off-putting for me and severely detracted from many of the songs. The slower track felt more natural and maybe that was their preferred style with the rest seeking the hit and big breakthrough to stardom but despite the odd decent solo, good lyric and occasional similarity to the likes of The Stones and Aerosmith, it’s not an album I shall be rushing to play again. I don’t remember disliking follow-up album Wake Me When It’s Over As Much as this though so I’m not done with the band just yet!
If You Listen To One Track Listen To : No Room For Emotion
Score : 1.5/5
—–
The promo for “Don’t Change That Song“…
A good choice from Mark for this series as this style is some way from the blues-rock staple that I was brought up on. I think possibly I would have appreciated this a bit more back in the 80s but today I can’t really say I got much enjoyment from listening to this and in fact repeated listens became a bit of a chore. I get the feeling from his post last week that he thinks highly of this album so I’ll be interested to read his views but I have a feeling this could be one we differ greatly on. Of course I don’t speak for every British rock fan here but the lack of real commercial success this band achieved over here, on the evidence of this album only you understand, doesn’t surprise me.
Click over to Heavy Metal Time Machine to get the American view!
July 16, 2007 at 7:38 am
Don’t know this album though I saw the video of “Bathroom wall” once. I enjoyed their “Wake me …” album though. The album after that one didn’t impress me - can’t remember what it was called.
July 16, 2007 at 11:31 am
I don’t see the Poison comparisons. Poison were alright, but they were far more sugary and polished in their approach. Faster Pussycat along with Bang Tango, Tigertailz, Skidrow and early pre-Use Your Illusion G-n-R were hard rock or glam bands that I think managed to combine the basics of hard rock, but toss in a rougher edge to it. I love Taime Down’s vocals and I think they certainly work here. To me this album was also effective because I think hard rock was becoming a bit stale in 1987 as bands like Motley Crue and Def Leppard were putting out rather dull albums that were losing their life. In 1987 this debut plus G-n-R and Tigertailz’s debuts helped bring back some of the life and fun to a scene that was looking shaky for a minute or so. Then again there is a difference between glam and just hard rock and not everyone likes both because there are differences.
July 16, 2007 at 11:41 am
I’m with Mark on this one. Poison was always very synthetic. They were okay at what they did, but lacked the grittiness that would make them sound real rather than over-polished in the studio. Faster Pussycat doesn’t have that problem. They weren’t the next big thing, but they were so good at what they did that it made up for it. Don’t you like Dogs D’Amour and London Quireboys? I think Faster Pussycat plays a similar game, but they might be just a hair better at it.
July 16, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Andre - I seem to remember enjoying “Wake Me…”. when I was at college but havn’t listened to it for years. This was my first taste of the debut album.
Mark - The Poison comparison’s were definately there for me. To me a lot of this sounds like the first Poison album. It just sounds like party-rock US style and for me lacked the grit of GnR, Tigertailz and Skid Row. Having said that Tigertailz were from Wales :-) so this proves US party-rock had some following over here.
As I said I’d only ever heard the odd track off this on Headbanger’s Ball and their 2nd album previously. Bands like Giant, Drive She Said, Great White and of course Tesla spring to mind as some USA bands that I was listening to at the time rather than the likes of FP, Bang Tango. As you say there are differences between what you call ‘glam’ and hard rock. I’d guess the one’s I’ve listed would fall into the rock category, maybe even AOR in a couple of instances! As for FP, I can’t even remember them getting played much at the local rock night.
Bob - I am a huge Quireboys fan and like Dogs D’Amour to some extent and wouldn’t put Faster Pussycat in the league as either - especially not the Quireboys. Maybe there is something in the fact Quireboys were and still are popular over here and never got a sniff in the States? Having said that, Faster Pussycat did manage a tour here earlier this year with Bang Tango and Enuff Z Nuff, but I don’t know personally how well attended it was. I would have liked to see Enuff Z Nuff though!
As I said in my review the singer’s voice was the main thing that put me off this album. Although there is just the one track I’d be bothered about hearing again.
Thanks for leaving comments though, this album obviously means more to you guys than me. Maybe if I liked the singer’s voice then I’d have got a little more out of this album?
July 16, 2007 at 3:34 pm
I know Tigertailz are from Wales. I put them in because their style was similar to the other bands I listed and their debut came out around the same time. The London Quireboys did get a little push over here as I remember them getting quite a bit of play on the local radio station around 89-90.
July 16, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Sorry Mark - I wasn’t implying you didn’t know. I listened to the Tigertailz debut not long ago, I have it on vinyl and honestly prefer it to this FP one.
Seems strange seeing these comments about “London Quireboys” though. After all these years, four studio albums, countless t-shirts and so many times seeing them live adding the “London” part just doesn’t seem right to me. Another, albeit slight, difference eh?
As an aside, what were the US Quireboys like then?
July 17, 2007 at 2:13 am
Bill -
I agree with Metal Mark — this album is far grittier and sports an earthier and more genuine sleazy vibe than any Poison album.
Regarding “Babylon” - there is a version of a LONDON song with some rappers on it from the late 80s that is far more cheezy than this — it may be the most annoying song I’ve ever heard!
July 17, 2007 at 7:01 pm
I don’t remember a US Quireboys. I always wondered why the London was tacked on, but it was always like that here.
July 19, 2007 at 2:43 pm
Bathroom Wall is one of my favorite songs period. I think this is a great sleaze album: nothing more, nothing less. For its glam history alone, I think this album is worth more than a 1.5 score.
Allyson
http://www.bringbackglam.com
July 19, 2007 at 3:32 pm
Hi Allyson… I thought you were late to this one but then I read you were at the 80’s Rocklahoma Rock Fest thing!
Just didn’t get on with the singer’s voice at all etc but my feelings are well documented above! I guess this is an example of tastes differing across the Atlantic perhaps..
If I want glam history UK style I go back about 15 years earlier for Slade, Sweet, T.Rex, Bowie etc. Now that’s what I call Glam :-)
btw did you get that email about Kid Ego and Rattlesnake Remedy? What do you think?
July 19, 2007 at 3:33 pm
Bob… not only did the US market tack London on the Quireboys I also have albums on import here that are credited to “Jagged Edge UK” and “Shy England”. I’m therefore guessing there was also a US version of both Jagged Edge and Shy around in the mid to late 80s.
July 19, 2007 at 9:02 pm
Bill, Shy did like two releases before changing their name and then they eventually went back to just Shy. We had a local speed metal band here named Wrathchild. Then we they signed to Atlantic the UK glam band of the same threatened a lawsuit so the American band became Wrathchild America.
July 20, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Ah Wrathchild UK - lovingly referred to over here by Kerrang I think it was as “four brickies in make-up”!!
I know the Misspent Youth album was released over there as Shy England and I’m guessing it’s predecessor, the excellent Excess All Areas was too. A fine band Shy, they actually were born out of the back end of the nwobhm era - quite often something from their first albums pops up on compilations of the new wave stuff. The namechange was purely for your market Mark - always simply “Shy” over here in their home land.