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.
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