Loved Motley Crue’s first few albums but have drifted away as a fan since then. Or rather, I’ve kept hoping they’d put out albums as great as Shout at the Devil. Who can’t love a party band that can jam like them who are equally notorious offstage for sniffing ants with Ozzy?

Sadly, they became too much about being glam rockers of the 80s with cheesy commercial radio tracks like “Girls, Girls, Girls” when we wanted their harder, edgier side in tracks like “Red Hot” and “Live Wire” and “Too Hot for Love.” I like their cover of Helter Skelter better than the original Beatles version. That says how much I liked this band at one time.

At one time.

It’s similar to the way I felt about Great White (note: I’m not saying Great White is a better band than Motley Crue) who started as a hard rock band and then went all blues and too mellow, but at least Great White has remained fairly prolific with new material the last 20+ years.

Can’t say the same about the Crue, who have put out only *9* studio albums in the last 27 years (maybe one album every three years isn’t that anemic) including yesterday’s newest release Saints of Los Angeles. Only 7 of the 9 albums contain the four founding members of the band:

Vince Neil - vocals
Mick Mars - guitars
Nikki Sixx - bass
Tommy Lee - drums

Before we get to the strong and weak points of the Saints album, which I purchased on AmazonMP3 ($8.99) and took off Judas Priest Nostradamus to listen to instead for awhile, let’s revisit Motley Crue’s studio albums to date.

Motley Crue Studio Albums
1. Too Fast for Love (1981)
2. Shout at the Devil (1983)
3. Theater of Pain (1985)
4. Girls, Girls, Girls (1987)
5. Dr. Feelgood (1989)
*6. Motley Crue (1994) - *John Corabi on vocals (instead of Vince Neil)
7. Generation Swine (1997)
*8. New Tattoo (2000) - *Randy Castillo on drums (instead of Tommy Lee), later replaced by female Hole drummer
9. Saints of Los Angeles (June 24, 2008)

Studio albums 1-3 (purchased in this order: Shout at the Devil, Too Fast for Love, Theater of Pain), are highly recommended to add any rocker’s collection. It gets a little more sketchy (for me, anyway) after that.

While Girls, Girls, Girls disappointed this fan, it brought great commercial success for the band Dr. Feelgood had some good tracks like the title track and ballad “Without You.” I’d put Dr. Feelgood as purchase #4 for your Motley Crue studio album collection.

I never took to the self-titled album where Vince Neil didn’t even sing. WTF? How do you put out a self-titled album and not have your original singer? Quiet Riot did this too when once upon a time (1986 I believe) they fired recently deceased Kevin Dubrow and replaced with the raspy, Rough Cutt singer, Paul Shortino. I liked Shortino, BTW, but his time with Quiet Riot was short lived.

Van Halen did something similar with the critically panned (and for good reasons) Van Halen 3 with Gary Cherone at the pipes, but strangely Van Halen 1 and Van Halen 2 both had Diamond Dave behind the mic. Shouldn’t VH2 have had the second singer of the band, Sammy Hagar? Who says rock and roll needs to make sense? Braincells be damned.

It wouldn’t be fair for me to rate Generation Swine or New Tattoo, because I don’t recall listening to either of them, much less buying them. They might have some good songs, or totally suck, so get those reviews elsewhere from somebody who has listened to them (or wait for me to buy them and review them). The reality is Motley Crue ceased being as interesting to me when they broke up the first time. I do realize Vince Neil rejoined the band for Generation Swine and Saints of Los Angeles is an intriguing enough listen for me to go back and see if I missed anything noteworthy.

New Tattoo doesn’t have Tommy Lee on drums, so I’m a little less interested in buying that one. For those who don’t know much about Motley Crue, Tommy Lee has the chops and is considered one of the best rock drummers around. Replacing somebody of his caliber is like replacing Neil Peart of Rush. This isn’t like replacing the drummer for Loverboy.

But hey, now that the original Motley Crue is back together again (third time? fourth time?), let’s get to the stuff that was released yesterday and see what’s good.

Saints of Los Angeles Track List with my thoughts
1. “L.A.M.F” - is this supposed to be like the opening to “Shout of the Devil” (in the speaking sense), only using Los Angeles as the backdrop? I like the Shout intro better but this is alright.
2. “Face Down In The Dirt” - solid track with some good riffs. Nice musical intro to the album.
3. “What’s It Gonna Take” - girls singing as backing vocals toward the end ruined this a bit for me. Seems like ripping (the wrong) page out of the Girls, Girls, Girls book. Otherwise, some good moments.
4. “Down At The Whisky” - a lot of L.A-based rock bands have a fond connection to playing at The Whisky, which I believe is sort of like the Madison Square Gardens of small clubs. This is a decent song about The Whisky with some great drumming by Tommy Lee. I was a bit disappointed that Mick Mars didn’t break out with a ripping solo. The song was made for it, but the solo he does put in there seems kind of mailed in (too short and not much flash or flare).
5. “Saints of Los Angeles (Gang Vocal)” - with the title track, I expected the boys to pull out all the stops. It starts with a very effective bass track by Nikki Sixx. The opening guitar riff explodes and Vince is in top form. Very nice.
6. “Mutherfucker of the Year” - how can any rocker not appreciate a song with an MF bomb as its title? The opening is an all out left-right speaker assault. This one jams from intro to close. Some familiar, but expertly placed guitar wah effects by Mars.
7. “The Animal In Me” - old school Crue with a great thumping bass (Nikki) and drums (Tommy). Vince nails the catchy vocals and Mick Mars shreds the axe. Motley Crue is clicking on all cylinders with this one. Crank it up. I liked this one on the very first listen and it is my favorite track on the album.
8. “Welcome To The Machine” - great guitar solo and drums (I know, I keep saying that but it’s hard not to appreciate Tommy Lee pounding the skins).
9. “Just Another Psycho” - I need to listen to this one more.
10. “Chicks = Trouble” - a throwaway track for me. Didn’t care for it. Music jams but it doesn’t gel.
11. “This Ain’t A Love Song”
12. “White Trash Circus”
13. “Goin’ Out Swingin’” - need more listens to the last five tracks, nothing really sticking out as great.

Summary and Hmm thoughts
Must admit I was surprised a bit by Saints. I figured it would be mostly crap, but there are some good jams on there. I’m going to go back and visit Generation Swine and maybe the other albums. Saints doesn’t give me the same Crue pleasure that their first three albums and Dr. Feelgood did, but it’s not bad. I have a feeling it might be their best album since Dr. Feelgood but can’t say that officially because I’ve been out of the Crue loop.

Motley Crue is on the short list of bands that I like but haven’t seen live to date yet. Going to keep my eyes peeled the next time they come to town. If you like the earlier Motley Crue stuff, give Saints of Los Angeles a listen. It’s not as raw as Too Fast for Love or as gritty as Shout, but it’s not the crap glam rock that drove fans like me away for awhile. It’s also not some huge breakthrough album that will sell better than their biggest albums of the past, but it’s refreshing to see the Crue getting back to their roots, somewhat.

The first half of the album is very strong but it fades kind of like the B-side of Theater of Pain. I might get flamed for saying this, but where is the rock album token ballad? Coming from a band with solid ballads like “Home Sweet Home” you kind of expect one ballad? Yes, no? Oh well, I don’t think the lack of a ballad hurts Saints. Now if only the boys stay together and put out more albums like this, and limit time spent in Vince Neil’s tattoo parlor, I bet they suck back in more of their older fans. Grade: B-

Did this post make you go hmm?

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