Style: hard rock, heavy metal
Label:
Year: 1989
Home: n/a
Members: Steve Jones ~ vocals/guitars
Terry Nails ~ bass/b. vocals
Mickey Curry ~ drums
Guests: Billy Duffy ~ guitar solo
Ian Astbury ~ b. vocals/tambourine
Axl Rose ~ vocals
Former Sex Pistol Steve Jones solo? I'm not a Pistols fan & have never listened to anything any member has done outside the band, not even PiL, but why not give Jones a listen & change this trend? The Pistols are iconic & given how different Johnny Rotten's music was post-Pistols. what might another member sound like? To top it off, the backing band is the drummer of the Cult, plus guests in their guitarist & singer. I'm hooked, as I'm a fan of Ian Astbury & company, who also produced the album. So, what have I found? A great rock'n'roll gutsy & gritty album I highly recommend checking out! Jones doesn't necessarily have a sound of his own, immediately recognizable, so what he crafts sounds like other bands ... but he's chosen well! I'm reminded of the bluesier end of the Cult, Ian Astbury's backing vocals absolutely contribute to this, meets the gritty street smart rock of Glenn Danzig without the glam elements, with the in your face playing of Ace Frehley, & just a touch of the energy of the Stooges. The outcome is non-pretentious good old fashioned gutter rock'n'roll. So few bands play this, as they aim for proficient technical playing over rawness, flash over guts. This album struts & grooves with a 'fuck you' attitude that few guitarists have. Is this a well-polished album? Not particularly. Its rough around the edges & borrows from here & there with abandon, even covering David Bowe's "Suffragette City". The riff of "We're No Saints" could be AC/DC. "Trouble Maker" is absolutely Brooklyn's metal trio Tired Wings. The chorus of "We're No Saints' & "Freedom Fighter" sound like the Cult stripped down, with a crazy noisy solo on the later. Yet, Jones takes it all in & makes his own, spewing out the flash & just keep the thrusting 'fuck you' action. This is very much rock'n'roll at its most basic, primal, & maybe the way its meant to be heard. Also, he covers the Sex Pistols' "I Did U No Wrong" with Axl Rose on the vocals. It sounds like early Guns N' Roses a la G N' R Lies. Axl is sloppy, a bit annoying, but rocking out like nobody's business in a way he stopped himself from doing in the highly polished Guns N' Roses. This is Jones' second solo album, & from other reviews I've read this his only outing sounding like this ... & his best solo album according to many. Listening to this as a bassist, I realized this is the type of rock I'd love to play in a band! Coming to Portland anytime soon, Steve? Likely ... not ... but do check out Steve playing solo guitar on his Instagram. The guy is totally cool.
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