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L.A. Guns - Hollywood Vampires

 

	RELEASED: June 25, 1991 PRODUCER:Michael James Jackson LABEL: Polydor BAND: Phil Lewis Tracii Guns Mick Cripps Kelly Nickels Steve Riley
+ Production, Over The Edge, Great songs - Production, Lacks Punch	TRACKS: 1.Over The Edge 2.Some Lie 4 Love 3.Kiss My Love Goodbye 4.Here It Comes 5.Crystal Eyes 6.Wild Obsession 7.Dirty Luv 8.My Koo Ka Choo 9.It's Over Now 10.Snake Eyes Boogie 11.I Found You 12.Big House

OVERVIEW

3rd and hardest album to come in for the Guns. They never hit pay dirt like a lot of other L.A. bands (GNR, Poison etc.) but they held a lot of respect in the right people’s minds, without their over the top hair and clothes, the Guns always proved to be more of a working man’s band, churning out sleazy hard rock numbers that can only be truly appreciated live. Previous record Cocked & Loaded was their biggest ever, so in ’91 they came out of the shadows to release Hollywood Vampires.

SONGS

The moody intro to Over The Edge keeps suspense high in the beginning, then once Riley cracks in with his drums and Phil lets go of a huge squeal the true epicness of the song seeps through. In my mind, this is the greatest Guns song that they ever released and I’ve never gotten sick of it all these years later. It made it to the Point Break movie and soundtrack, but foolishly  Polydor passed on releasing it as a single (against the band wishes). The fantastically catchy Some Lie 4 Love is next, and sets the album up to be one their best. First single Kiss My Love Goodbye is a sleazy groove number that is so glossy with production, you hardly know its L.A. Guns, great song none the less. Here It Comes is another great rocker with a similar sound, Phil’s vocals soar here. The over sappy, but genuine Crystal Eyes is next, and is vastly different from Ballad Of Jayne. Good lead work and great lyrics. Instruments come from everywhere on Wild Obsession, and while you can still hear Phil’s signature squeal, it’s hard to believe the music is Guns. Dirty Luv is another groove rock number and My Koo Ka Choo has some great riffs, that could have turned into a really great song, but again the over production buries it. More simple is the great acoustic number Its Over Now. Nice one, very different for Guns, very likable. Snake Eyes and the closer are more groove based numbers. While I Found You is a strange 50’s styled ballad, that IS great, but possibly out of place on any Guns record but this one.

CONCLUSION

There’s a few ways to look at this album. In one way it is unbelievably produced with tonnes of overdubs and textured instruments and vocals. The sound is so clean and the boys really step out of their songwriting style to try some different things, and most of the time they pull it off.

However, many may argue that this is just not what L.A. Guns does best. They are a great raw hard rock band and this is way out of their usual field.

I do agree with the later, but I can certainly appreciate this album. I think it is really their unappreciated masterpiece. It lacks that heavy Guns punch and raw rumble, but is does provide many other good things. Not really a bad song in the bunch, this really is a great full album.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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