Loud 'N' Nasty - Teaser Teaser (2004)

Country: Sweden
Year: 2004
Line-up: Rob Nasty (lead vocals, bass), Chris Loud (guitars, vocals), T-Bone (drums)

Track Listing:

1.   Teaser   2.   Play Dirty   3.   Annie   4.   Hungry   5.   If You Wanna Rock   6.   Love Child   7.   After The War   8.   Saturday Night   9.   Hollywood Dream   10.   Kick 'n' Fight   11.   Help Me

Fletchanator's comment: Just as LA's Sunset Strip was the mecca of sleazy hard rock in the 80s, that role has now been taken over by Sweden. Since the turn of the millennium, the Scandanavian country has churned out a seemingly-endless supply of bands invoking the big hair and attitude of those early acts. Sleazy trio Loud 'N' Nasty are an example of that, forming in 1998 and putting out a string of great albums, this being their second.
I don't often post albums from the 2000s, but this one is pure 80s. There are no modern influences here, this sounds like it crawled out of an alley behind the Whiskey A Go Go sometime during Reagan's presidency. Ratt is the best comparison, mixed with some early Motley Crue, WASP and a smidge of Dokken.
This one is highly recommended - turn it up and party like it's 1984!

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Jag Wire - Made in Heaven (1985)

Country: USA
Year: 1985
Line-up: Art Deresh (vocals), Howard Drossin (guitars), Joey Cristofanilli (bass), Carl Elizondo (drums), Vince Gilbert (keyboards)

Track Listing:

1.   All My Love   2.   On The Run   3.   Heat Of The Night   4.   Takin' The City   5.   Made In Heaven   6.   Love Can't Wait   7.   Nothing At All   8.   Traitor

Fletchanator's comment: This rarity (when the CD pops up on eBay it commands stupid money) is the only album from Sunset Strip rockers Jag Wire, a band formed out of the ashes of the band Sin. At times this shows glimpses of the melodic heavy metal being played at the time by other LA bands like Motley Crue and WASP, but for the most part it is radio-friendly AOR.
Singer Art Deresh has a voice that is rough around the edges, reminding me of Krokus front man Marc Storace and Minoru Niihara from Loudness. Keyboardist Vince Gilbert features prominently (even breaking out a couple of keyboard solos) - he would later play on a couple of albums with Nadir D'Priest in 1990, one with London and the other with the band D'Priest.
This rip is taken from vinyl (not by me) so doesn't have the crispest sound, but if you're a fan of early 80s hard rock and AOR you should enjoy this.

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Trash Can Baby - Trash Can Baby (1993)

Country: USA
Year: 1993
Line-up: Paul Terror (vocals), Mike Pope (guitars, piano), Tim Hoyt (guitars), Duane Lozada (bass), Neil Esposito (drums)

Track Listing:

1.   Down For The Count   2.   Day By Day   3.   Coming At You   4.   Overtime   5.   Too Late For Sorrow   6.   Cold As Winter   7.   Don't Take It Away   8.   Love's An Injection

Fletchanator's comment: East Coast rockers Trash Can Baby released just this one album before splitting a couple of years later. The CD is a real collector's item, commanding big money when it show up online.
In terms of sound, Trash Can Baby play a slice of glammy hard rock that can most easily be compared to Warrant and Sgt Roxx. It's good stuff, check it out!

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Javan - Somewhere in the Night (1991)

Country: Germany
Year: 1991
Line-up: Bernd Martin (vocals), Oliver Schwung (guitars), K.B. Hard (guitars), Rainer Herrmann (bass), Winni M Schap (drums), T.J. Rath (keyboards)

Track Listing:

1.   Moon   2.   Somewhere In The Night   3.   Call My Name   4.   Time Of Revival   5.   Back In My Life   6.   In My Heart   7.   Can't Get Enough   8.   Vicious Rumours   9.   Our Love   10.   Eyes   11.   Sophisticated Women   12.   Dreams

Fletchanator's comment: Javan are a German band that as far as I know only put out this one album. It's an interesting slice of melodic hard rock, sometimes bordering on melodic heavy metal but mostly having an AOR-ish sound thanks to the keyboards. Singer Bernd Martin has a strong voice that sounds like he should be fronting a power metal band (and has a prominent German accent in places) - I'm not sure he perfectly suits the kind of music Javan plays. This one will appeal to fans of keyboard-oriented AORish hard rock bands like Zinatra and 1st Avenue.

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Funny Money - Funny Money (1998)

Country: USA
Year: 1998
Line-up: Steve Whiteman (vocals), Billy Andrews (guitars), Dean Cramer (guitars), Ned Meloni (bass), Geoff Burrell (drums)

Track Listing:

1.   Off My Rocker   4:09 2.   Art of Persuasion   5:14 3.   Can't Take the Heat   3:27 4.   Baby Blues   4:25 5.   For Keeps   4:30 6.   Boogie Man   4:07 7.   Pick Me Up   4:04 8.   Suckin' My Blood   4:31 9.   Monkey See, Monkey Do   3:55 10.   Dry Eyes Cry   4:17

Fletchanator's comment: I'm an unabashed fanboy of the band Kix and a big part of that is Steve Whiteman's voice. This is Whiteman's side project, featuring a series of non-Kix musicians (although Kix drummer Jimmy Chalfant did join in 2003).
This isn't as good as classic (Blow My Fuse era) Kix - probably because it's hard to replace the guitar work of Younkins and Forsythe - but it's still good in its own right. Given the era it came out, at least Whiteman didn't attempt to cash in on what was "in" at the time and turn all alternative/grunge/nu-metal (I'm looking at you Bulletboys) and remained true to his hard rock roots.
Not quite as sleazy as Kix, this album still rocks and if you're a fan of Whiteman's awesome voice you'll enjoy this.

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Swedish Erotica - Swedish Erotica (1989)

Country: Sweden
Year: 1989
Line-up: Mats Leven (vocals), Magnus Axx (guitars), Morgan LeFay (guitars), Johnny D'Fox (bass), BC Strike (drums)

Track Listing:

1.   Rock N' Roll City   2.   Love on the Line   3.   We're Wild, Young and Free   4.   Hollywood Dreams   5.   Love Hunger   6.   Love Me or Leave Me   7.   Downtown   8.   She Drives Me Crazy   9.   Loaded Gun   10.   Rip It Off   11.   Break the Walls bonus track   12.   Hollywood Dreams (acoustic version) bonus track

Fletchanator's comment: Pure and simple, Swedish Erotica's self-titled debut is one of the best examples of late 80s hard rock done right. It's a shame that this band doesn't get mentioned alongside the "big names" of the genre, because they're just as good. Their second album, in 1995, was heavier and had a different singer, best to avoid that one and listen to this instead.
The sound on this album is awesome, from the anthemic We're Wild, Young and Free to the ballad Hollywood Dreams, there aren't any bad songs among the bunch. What really puts it above a lot of other albums from this time is Mats Leven's voice. Leven - who went on to sing with Treat and Yngwie Malmsteen for an album each while also fronting symphonic metallers Therion and doom merchants Candlemass (a gig he still has) - is quite simply one of the best singers in hard rock, up there with Sebastian Bach.
I can't recommend this one highly enough! Turn it up and rock out!

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LeRoux - So Fired Up (1983)

Country: USA
Year: 1983
Line-up: Fergie Frederiksen (vocals), Tony Haselden (guitars), Jim Odom (guitars), Leon Medica (bass), David Peters (drums), Rod Roddy (keyboards)

Track Listing:

1.   Turning Point   4:55 2.   Carrie's Gone   3:48 3.   Wait One Minute   4:29 4.   Yours Tonight   3:42 5.   Back in America   3:45 6.   Let Me In   3:55 7.   Lifeline   4:30 8.   Line on Love   3:38 9.   Don't Take It Away   3:18 10.   Look Out   4:12

Fletchanator's comment: This is one for fans of early 80s AOR, along the lines of Toto, Foreigner, Loverboy and Journey. LeRoux (originally Lousiana's LeRoux) had released four albums between 1978 and 1982 with Jeff Pollard on vocals, but he found God and renounced rock 'n' roll music, so in stepped Fergie Frederiksen to take over the microphone. Fergie would stay with LeRoux for just this one album before taking Bobby Kimball's spot in Toto a year later (creating the great album Isolation), another gig that would end short with his firing in 1985. Sadly Fergie died in 2013.
As mentioned above, this is American AOR in every sense of the word. If you like the bands listed above, you'll enjoy this for sure. Fergie had one heck of a voice and the rest of the band is tight.

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