Ratt ~ Detonator (album review) ... The original Ratt goes out with glory with guitar porn!

Style: hard rock
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1990
Home: Los Angeles, California

Members: Stephen Pearcy ~ vocals
Robbin Crosby ~ rhythm guitars/b. vocals
Warren DeMartini ~ lead guitars/b. vocals
Juan Croucier ~ bass/b. vocals
Bobby Blotzer ~ drums

Additional: Guests: Jon Bon Jovi ~ b. vocals
Michael Schenker ~ guitar

Myriam Valle, Desmond Child ~ b. vocals
Steve Deutsch ~ samples/programming
David Garfield ~ keyboards

If you're not tired of Ratt by the time you get to their fifth album, Detonator, weren't put off bored by the lackluster hits & filler on its predecessor Reach For The Sky, then this will likely be a great listen. Personally, I think it might be one of their best albums, & its criticisms are unmerited. Its one I often come back to. As much as their debut actually. Its chock full of hits, some of their best in my ears, to the point where its nothing but hits to me. I don't mean hits that are good songs but forgettable, like Reach For The Sky had, but stuff that stands up with no embarassment alongside "Round & Round." Proof is that the songs here continue to be crowd pleasers. I say that having seen Ratt in 2019. Detonator has a slightly heavier feel than earlier releases, or more glam-like depending on one's view, but essentially is pretty much the same thing Ratt has always done. They came out the door with a sound & never went far from it. Growth by them is measured in minor ways rather than in huge creative jumps. Even AC/DC has more musical changes over albums than Ratt. They just got better at playing what they always played & never promised many surprises. Though, "Given Yourself Away" comes out of nowhere with Pearcy singing in a baritone. Its good, but power ballads are really not Ratt's thing. Its sounds out of place, though its a good song. You either like Ratt or don't. If you don't, then getting this far in their catalog will be painful. On the other hand, if you don't know Ratt & just want to hear or sample their best albums, I would put this album on that short list without hesitance. I don't give it that position because the band have necessarily become better musicians or better composers, but Warren DiMartino shines behind the guitar on this. Parts of this album might be called guitar porn. Though, to be fair, there are moments when these songs might sound like other songs you've heard from them. While, like always, Pearcy has nothing to say as a lyricist. Bringing in songwriter Desmond Child for everything but an instrumental introduction to "Shame, Shame, Shame" doesn't help change that. He writes memorable songs, but not emotional or personal ones. While Child's thumb print is clearly on "Given Yourself Away" which sounds more like him than the band, a common accusation of his writing where the bands mold themselves to him versus him to them. It would be seven years before they released an album after this. The music scene would be irrevocably changed by grunge, women singer/songwriters & hip-hop, while the band would lose two members. For me, this is a final nice hurrah of the original run of Ratt. They bow out with a high doing what they do best.

Ratt ~ Invasion Of Your Privacy (album review) ... The Cement Pirate on the prowl!

Style: hard rock, glam metal
Label: Portrait
Year: 1999
Home: n/a

Members: Stephen Pearcy ~ vocals
Warren DeMartini ~ guitar/b. vocals
Robbie Crane ~ bass/b. vocals
Bobby Blotzer ~ drums

I've been on a Ratt kick lately going back to re-listen. This often happens with this band, as I can't just hear one album. Yet, I've discovered I really don't like Dancing Undercover & Ratt, known amongst fans as 1999, outside of two songs. Those albums are to me where the Ratt template hits its very close walls. Infestation is a great comeback, but with their comeback albums as 50/50%  good/bad I worry about any future music they might create. So, now I've been turning back the clock to the universally acclaimed early albums. On their second album Invasion Of Your Privacy I was struck by something immediately I didn't hear on any of the above albums. I wrote in my review that on Infestation Pearcy is singing great, but there's something missing there that I didn't realize is missing that I now hear with this classic album. There, Pearcy doesn't growl, he just sings. I don't know if I ever noticed this before, but I'm pretty sure I felt it. Pearcy has a growl that pretty much makes Ratt who they are. When he sings on "What You Give Is What You Get" I imagine someone like a criminal crawling through an alley, their back hunched over with a weapon hidden under a jacket. Or, a rapist stalking a victim in the dark. He sounds menacing, which might be partly where his nickname of the Cement Pirate came from, in addition to his Adam Ant-like early glam image. "Got Me On The Line", "Between The Eyes", "Dangerous But Worth The Risk", & "You're In Love" also feature this growl. Yes, Ratt had two great guitar players, addictive rhythms, memorable sing-along lyrics, but there are times they sound like every other band with a big sound & tenor singer churning out power ballads. But, when Pearcy growls like a hunter & digs into the song something magical comes through. Not all songs follow this approach. Some are just straight ahead rockers, but enough of the songs have such an emotional punch it lifts up the rest. Also, the songs just really are great, but there might be more here than many recognize & it explains where later albums failed.

Ratt ~ Out Of The Cellar (album review) ... & into your musical hearts!

Style: hard rock, glam metal
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1984
Home: Los Angeles, California

Members: Stephen Pearcy ~ vocals
Robbin Crosby, Warren DeMartini ~ guitars/b. vocals
Juan Croucier ~ bass/b. vocals
Bobby Blotzer ~ drums

Ratt had been around for awhile, but hasn't always gotten the credit as a first generation L.A. hair metal due to the timing of their debut full length album Out Of The Cellar. That is too bad ... luckily for them they came out the door with this near '80's masterpiece to cement their place in history. If you love '80's hair metal & either don't own this album or have not heard it, than you've missed an album that is a right of passage. You likely know the hit "Round & Round", with its iconic MTV video, but if you haven't heard the rest of the album than you're missing a classic album. In the days since controversies might have marred their reputation, but back in the day Ratt was huge & everyone loved them. The band had already done an EP, thus they had a chance to work on their sound by the time of their formal full length debut. Any band would kill for a debut this strong. Ironically, the follow-up is considered even better by some fans, but this album instantly put them on the map. Steven Pearcy's vocals might be considered whiney by some, but his vocals are instantly recognizable & different in a sea of screaming tenors. The guy had high pitched singing voice, but didn't scream or go into tenor like so many of his peers. He also had an arsenal of great lines to sing, whether they were his lyrics or from his bandmates. The riffs are huge & memorable, with solos to match. For example, the opening of "Back For More" with the bass, guitars & drums just launch into a huge opening that will blow your speakers up. Ratt had two great guitarists with different styles. The late Robbin Crosby was wild, while Warren DeMartini threw in little nuances that often get missed by non-musicians but put him in the higher echelons of players. While the band had a strong rhythm section up there with Van Halen, featuring bassist/songwriter Juan Croucier & drummer Bobby Blotzer. Check out Juan's playing on "Back For More" & his slides on "The Morning After" that give both songs a drive. The album is also full of hits, kinda like Nirvana's Nevermind or Electric Light Orchestra's A New World Record, where its one great song after another & the weak points are almost not talking about. More importantly, these aren't hits because they were played on the radio & Billboard decided they were hits, but because they are genuinely great songs that instantly grab you. I'm a huge Ratt fan & love Stephen solo stuff. I'm proud of that fact & the band is worth my adoration. If you're not a fan or don't know their music, what are you waiting for? Also to note, the late Tawny Kitaen is the cover model, who is famous for also appearing in the Whitesnake videos. She was Robbin's girlfriend at the time.

Ratt ~ Infestation (album review) ... Welcome this rat into the house any time!

Style: hard rock
Label: Roadrunner
Year: 2010
Home: n/a

Members: Stephen Pearcy ~ vocals
Warren DeMartini ~ guitar/b. vocals
Carlos Cavazo ~ rhythm guitar/b. vocals
Robbie Crane ~ bass/b. vocals
Bobby Blotzer ~ drums

 

 

Ratt's self-titled album, known by fans as 1999, is so iffy that I don't own it anymore, & I'm a Ratt & Pearcy fan. too. There's just nothing on it I want to hear again, & this comes after giving it numerous listens. I also don't own Dancing Undercover, outside of two songs. Same reasoning applies. For me those two albums are just throw away songs that have never grabbed me & demonstrate where the tightly wound Ratt template can often be its own worst enemy. So, when it comes to 1999's follow-up in Infestation my hesitancy is wanting to put on the breaks. Having listened to this album many times, forget the breaks ... go for the gas! This is the comeback Ratt fans wanted! This is Ratt! I love this album. No longer is Ratt trying to sound like current trends like grunge, something which is shared by & plaguing Pearcy's solo career at the time, but just sounding like Ratt as we know & love them. It sounds a lot like early Ratt, which the band said at the time was deliberate, but the guitars are a little harder & the sound a lot fiercer. Its a very mature sounding Ratt, yet also nostalgic. The end result is a total ear worm. This album features the same line-up of 1999, which debuted new bassist Robbie Crane, but with the addition of former Quiet Riot guitarist Carlos Cavazo. I don't know how much of his influence is on this, such as if his presence allowed DeMartini to have someone to bounce riffs back & forth with versus on 1999 where it was all on his shoulders. Pearcy is also in great form here, sounding more alive than he has not just on past Ratt albums but even some of his solo work. He sounds like he's enjoying himself & singing his heart out. If he wasn't, he's fooled my ears. Some critics have said this album rates as an average Ratt album, but considering what came before it, average is the perfect place to be. There are a few tracks that don't excite me ("Last Call", "Garden Of Eden", "Don't Let Go"), but when the overall album is this strong the weak moments get washed away. Pearcy asks on "Lost Weekend": "Is it me or do I like what I'm feeling?" Nope, not just you. I'm in agreement.

Ratt ~ Ratt (aka 1999) (album review) ... We've heard this one before!

Style: hard rock
Label: Portrait
Year: 1999
Home: n/a

Members: Stephen Pearcy ~ vocals
Warren DeMartini ~ guitar/b. vocals
Robbie Crane ~ bass/b. vocals
Bobby Blotzer ~ drums

Comeback/reunion albums are, by their very nature, always exciting. Some are like not a day has passed musically, for example The Cars & the Monkees reunion albums. Others sound very different & really can't be compared to earlier days of the band, but still rock, such as Heart's Red Velvet Car. Others are a great mix of old meets retro & even reach new heights, such as Tesla's later releases. Some are their own entity that have no counterpart in the past, such as Steve Perry's Traces. Others rock, but yet something doesn't quite click. Is it the slighter older voices & change in playing styles? Is it the dynamics of a different line-up, or the loss of a key member? Is it a different producer or songwriter or outside influence? Is it the attempt to recapture the past, but the moment has passed & now it sounds either nostalgic or stale depending on who is talking, or is a desire to step away from the past? Is it he lack of drugs, or lack of commercial success, or ... ? So many comeback albums you want to like, but you sometimes wonder if a band's catalog would be fine without them. They don't tarnish the reputation, but they are not necessarily adding anything. There's so many variables that go into a comeback or reunion album that its almost impossible to say what makes a band create a masterpiece & a few years later pour out a dud. These are the albums you want to like more than you do. If its not obvious, this reunion/comeback album by Ratt, simply called Ratt but nicknamed by fans 1999 to not be confused with their earlier self-titled album, is one of these hard to love albums. The band had dissolved & gotten back together with potentially renewed energy, but yet something on the album doesn't do that energy justice. It has some great moments, but the end feeling leaves one wanting, even on repeated listens. Perhaps its the fact that the songwriting of bassist Juan Croucier is now gone, who wrote or co-wrote many of the band's hits. He's been replaced by Robbie Crane, who is a competent bassist but doesn't contribute lyrically. How much he contributed to molding the music without credit I don't know. While the band is now a quartet with the departure of guitarist Robbin Crosby, so one might guess guitarist Warren DiMartini is now running the show musically far more than ever. Warren is an under-rated lead guitarist was had a technique his peers didn't, yet something here feels derivative & more imitative than original. Ratt might not always have been the most creative band on the strip, at least on first listen, but they had a unique sound that remains not duplicated & immediately recognizable beyond just Pearcy's vocals. This album doesn't have that. It doesn't grab you, nor stay with you, nor does it feel like Ratt. It is an album that feels like it is not looking to repeat the past, but instead looking to the music trends around it & wanting to be a part of them. To this end comes its imitative feel. It is almost like the guys grabbed a lot of trendy styles, played around with them, duplicated them, but didn't inject the trademarkable Ratt sound into them. The styles control the band, versus the band controlling the styles. Ratt kicks off sounding like Stone Temple Pilots now fronted by Stephen Pearcy with thick multi-layered guitars & moody vocals. There's nothing wrong with S.T.P., but they aren't sleazy Sunset Strip & they aren't Ratt. What follows is just as much always sounding like another band, & not Ratt. On first listen, if one didn't know, they might even guess this to be a Pearcy solo album, as he's known for reaching far beyond the Ratt template. This should be a good thing, yet its a distinctiveness as something different than the past just doesn't quite hit home. Its not a bad album, but somehow sounds stale. It rocks, but never in high gear. Pearcy is on point, but never seems to be throwing his guts into the arena. He sounds bored, like he's letting the music take all the burdens of grabbing the listener's ears. It does, to some extent, but the mix of guitars & vocals is the key to Ratt. There's obvious hits, but somehow they feel like they could have been cranked up another notch. They don't feel dangerous, like Ratt once did, while the dangerous highlights are lost in the mix. There's some missteps where you feel like the band went left when they should have gone right. Its an odd disenchanting feeling. There's actually a lot of good playing here, but compared to the early days ... well, its better not to compare. That might be the problem with many reunion/comeback albums. You really have to take them on their own. That being said, taking this album on its own doesn't do it much help. It has moments, but most albums do. I do not know what dynamics went into this album. Maybe they needed an outside songwriter or a different producer, but something in hindsight could have been better. Maybe if this was any other band this might be a high mark, otherwise it ends up being something feeling more transitional. It doesn't even feel nostalgic, which is the bigger irony. I should confess I love Ratt & Stephen Pearcy, including his solo bands. Yet, this is not the Ratt album I want to come home to. This doesn't feel like home, but I wish it did. I can hear it might be a good home with a little touch-up.

Stephen Pearcy ~ Smash (album review) ... The name says it all!

Style: hard rock
Label: Frontiers
Year: 2017
Home: n/a

Members: Stephen Pearcy ~ vocals
Erick Ferentinos ~ guitar/b. vocals
Frank Wilsey ~ guitar
Matt Thorr ~ bass
Greg D'Angelo ~ drums

I love Ratt today, but once upon a time I found so much of what they did a bit repetitive. It didn't help that I read both Stephen Pearcy & Bobby Blotzer's autobiographies, & found I liked the band less after getting to know them better. All I'll say is one left a bitter taste in my mouth & the other needed a better co-writer/editor. Yet, I'm one of these folks who likes to investigate something thoroughly before drawing the line. I started re-listening to Ratt & found that I was wrong. On first listen they might sound like another glossy 80's band, but on deeper listens they had some stellar riffs that were far from repetitive & the songs absolutely stick with you. While when you start listing out the hits & headbangers they suddenly appear as a phenomenal band with more highs than lows. I also discovered that guitarist Warren DeMartini had a style & technique different than his peers. I got to see Ratt live with Warren, Carlos Cavazo & Jimmy DeGrasso in 2019 & watching Warren was a lesson in how to throw subtle things into the riff. You may not hear the difference, & I didn't, but you feel it & it haunts you. Yet, what got me to become a hardcore Ratt fan was Pearcy's solo work, including Arcade, Vicious Delite & Vertex. Listening that was what got me to re-evaluate Ratt. His solo stuff has never had that slick 80's commercial gloss & even with the same voice, his solo work is, more often than not, not Ratt. V.D. is grungy & riff heavy in a way Ratt never could or can be, Vertex is a fascinating though alienating concept album around religion that gets little notice, while Arcade rocks dirty & bluesy. While his solo work has gone in all sorts of directions, full of lots of surprises. Part of the solo era equation is that the hits are over for Ratt & Pearcy, even if they did get a moment back in the sun on a GEICO commercial on TV, but MTV isn't really interested in them anymore, while the music scene & industry has radically changed since they debuted. Yet, because they know they're not going to be landing on the charts or cover of Rolling Stone its like they can just let loose. They can explore more  & incorporate new sounds that they likely were pressured not to do back in the early days. In those days the idea was to do the music that got the hits, which often meant duplicating what came before. Now the goal is just to make a good album that old fans will like & may attract some new fans. This freedom allows the now middle aged Pearcy & his peers to make what are some stellar albums, maybe some of the best of their career. They have found a beautiful place to groove that has a modern feel yet also is retro. Its the best of the past fused with all the trends that have come after, without having to be all of one thing or another. Pearcy's 2017 solo album Smash is an example of that place. I've listened to this album over & over since its release & its never grown stale. I turn to it just as much as any Ratt album. Its so good that I decided to blog about it, though this blog was put to bed years ago. To put it bluntly: if you want to know Pearcy solo this might be the album to check out. Its got just enough classic Ratt-esque feel to please fans, but also shows a musical diversity he doesn't get enough credit for. His voice is a rougher & raspier, which might be a shock if you haven't heard anything since Ratt's heyday, but he naturally has that rock'n'roll snarl musicians do their best to fake. Actually, he might be one of the creators of the snarl, come to think of it, & it just sounds better with age. It gives the music an extra emotional push. Though, even with the rasp of older vocal chords, he's not lost his ability to sing like so many peers have, even if fans are hesitate to confess such for many of their icons. Yet, for a vocalist's album this is a guitar album through & through. Each song is thick with big juicy riffs & equally big solos are peppered throughout. Some of the songs sound so much like Ratt it makes one wonder where one band starts & the solo career ends. Maybe the songs are old, or maybe Pearcy is done running from his past like he sorta did in his early solo years. Other songs, like the opener "I Know I'm Crazy" are heavy & proggy in a way more reflective of his solo efforts. Here the guitar moves between a typical metal approach of a thick rhythm with thin soaring leads in the background, to a heavily processed underwater sound somewhat like Nirvana's "Come As You Are." Its a mix of a Ratt-esque guitar solo, stomping heavy metal rhythms & grunge influences that might be the perfect opener for the album. It sends the immediate message: you aren't going to see what's coming next. My description of the song doesn't really do it justice, but that might be the key to what follows. This album just deserves a listen. Where I once saw Ratt all glossy & imitative, Peacy's Smash is anything but. Its a roller coaster with every song a new experience & a ton of potential chart hits. "Ten Miles Wide" could be a Ratt song on their next album. You can almost imagine bassist Juan Croucier prancing on stage to it & you rocking along with him. If this is what the next Ratt album might sound like, the wait will be worth it. The other songs span the spectrum from Ratt nostalgia sleaze, to gritty blues more reminiscent of the under-rated Arcade, to moments that feel like Sunset Strip before G'N'R re-molded the sound, with even the obligatory power metal ballad with group vocals in "Rain". Also, to be noted, drummer D'Angelo played in White Lion, early '80's Anthrax, & Pride & Glory with Zakk Wylde. Bassist Thorr was in an early Ratt & co-wrote their hit "Back For More". Guitarist Wilsey was in Arcade, & Ferentinos has been a musical co-creater with Pearcy on many albums for what has been a productive & exciting musical partnership. A seriously magical combination that can be proud of their work. Its a .... smash.