Dr Sin - Dr Sin (1993)

Country: Brazil
Year: 1993
Line-up: Andria Busic (vocals, bass), Eduardo Ardanuy (guitars), Ivan Busic (drums)

Track Listing:

1.   Emotional Catastrophe   2.   Dirty Woman   3.   Stone Cold Dead   4.   Howlin'In The Shadows   5.   The Fire Burns Cold   6.   You Stole My Heart   7.   Dr. Sin   8.   Valley Of Dreams   9.   Have You Ever Seen The Rain   10.   Lonely World   11.   Through My Window   12.   Scream & Shout   Fletchanator's comment: Mention Brazil and metal and you're likely to think of Sepultura and heavier bands like that, but the South American land is also home to one of the best hard rock bands of all time! Dr Sin have put out at least 13 albums (the latest in 2015), and this is the one that started it all for them. The Busic brothers and guitarist Ardanuy (who shreds bigtime) produce a polished, rocking sound that puts them in the same class as better-known bands like Danger Danger, Black 'n Blue and Baton Rouge. They also have the pre-requisite ballads (You Stole My Heart, Through My Window), and put their own spin on CCR's classic Have You Ever Seen the Rain. Due to copyright problems, the band re-recorded this album in 2009 and called it Original Sin, but this is the...uh... original version (with very Whitesnake-inspired cover art). Recommended listening! Download

Atomik Cocktail - Metal Rages On (1991)

Country: USA

Year: 1991

Line-up: Todd Plant (vocals), Bruce Batten (guitars), Jim Williams (bass), Russ Hammock (drums)

Track Listing:
1.   Times Square   3:43 2.   Foreplay   0:55 3.   Passion Attack   4:49 4.   War Zone   3:47 5.   Metal Rages On   5:27 6.   Road Warrior   3:22 7.   Hard as Nails   5:59 8.   Cutthroat   3:05 9.   First Born   4:41 10.   Don't Lock Me Out   3:28

Fletchanator's comment: The one and only album released by this Florida-based band, which rose out of the ashes of Brat (in which both Batten and Hammock featured). Todd Plant subsequently sang for bands like Eye Witness and Millenium, so if you know those bands you know that he's got a great voice. This one is towards the traditional heavy metal or even power metal end of the spectrum (with song names like War Zone, Road Warrior and Hard as Nails) but also crosses into more melodic territory on songs like Foreplay and Passion Attack. Killer guitar licks, excellent singing, tight musicianship - Atomik Cocktail are great and definitely worth checking out for any fans of melodic heavy metal (ala Riot or Shok Paris). This was re-released by Retrospect Records a few years back but is OOP.

Download

Cats in Boots - Kicked & Klawed (1989)

Country: USA
Year: 1989

Line-up: Joel Ellis (vocals), Takashi "Jam" Ohashi (guitar), Yasuhiro "Butch" Hatae (bass), Randy Meers (drums)

Track Listing:
1.   Shot Gun Sally   3:28 2.   Nine Lives (Save Me)   3:47 3.   Her Monkey   4:08 4.   Whip it Out   4:14 5.   Long, Long Way From Home   4:15 6.   Coast to Coast   3:17 7.   Every Sunrise   6:13 8.   Evil Angel   3:30 9.   Bad Boys Are Back   4:11 10.   Judas Kiss   3:25

Fletchanator's comment: This band and album kick serious ass! Cats in Boots are one of the definite "could have been huge" bands of the hair metal scene of the late 80s. This was their only album, after a Japan-only EP, until one was put out in 1999 but I haven't heard that one and don't know if it's new material or older outtakes. Anyway, back to Kicked & Klawed - one of the gems of the glam metal scene! Joel Ellis' fantastic vocals ooze sleaze while Jam Ohashi's axework is truly top notch. The stand out song is Shot Gun Sally, but there are no weak tracks here. For fans of Sunset Strip sleaze rock bands like Faster Pussycat, LA Guns, Motley Crue etc, you'll love this!
After Cats in Boots, Ellis was in Heavy Bones,  while Ohashi joined Slumlords. In 2012 Demon Doll Records released material from Ellis and Meers' pre-Cats band, Merri Hoax, recorded in the mid-80s.
I really wish Cats in Boots had been given more opportunity, or had taken what opportunity they had (I don't know the background on why they didn't break out). They had the sound, the swagger and the sleaze to be one of the biggest bands in the land!

Download

Open Fire - Open Fire EP [1990]

Country: USA

Year: 1990

Line-up: Erich Wida (vocals), Chris Yamamoto (guitars), Jack Acevedo (bass), Birdie (Drums)

Track Listing:
1. Top of the Heap
2. Feel the Power
3. Love Comes Tumblin' Down
4. Lying to Yourself

Fletchanator's comment: Following on from the cassette rip I posted of Wild Child, here is another release that as far as I know is only available on tape. Open Fire were a four-piece from Hawaii, a land that is hardly synonymous with heavy metal. They later released a full-length album, No Uncle of Mine, on CD in 1995. But none of the songs on this self-released EP were included on that, so this is likely the only place you can hear these tracks. Bassist Jack Acevedo has uploaded some Open Fire songs onto youtube, but today the band are pretty much a footnote in history. Singer Wida apparently joined a metal covers band called Slug after Open Fire split up.
Soundwise, I can hear similarities with Motley Crue, LA Guns and bands of that ilk but they also incorporate a heavier, faster sound that adds elements of traditional heavy metal bands like Metal Church and Accept.

Download

Wild Child - Wild Child [1989]

Country: USA

Year: 1989

Line-up: Brian Kight (vocals, guitars), Rich Wolfe (bass), Bryan Watson (guitars), Craig Kight (drums)

Track Listing:
1. Street Queen Lady
2. Cry Wolf
3. Thunder and Rain
4. Watching Thru Mirrors
5. Goin Down
6. Gypsy Caravan
7. Winds of Change
8. Gotham City

Fletchanator's comment: Now this is a really rare little gem. It's ripped from a cassette tape and as far as I can tell it has never received a CD or vinyl release. Information on this band is extremely scarce, but Wild Child appeared to be based in Ohio. This is probably their only release. Singer/guitarist Brian Kight is still making music today - he has a Youtube channel which features videos by a recent band called Ripcord, as well as old Wild Child live clips and clips from a pre-Wild Child band called Ripfist.
As for this album, it's a great slice of late 80s hard rock which reminds me in places of Babylon AD or Dokken and at other times has the funky edge of Bulletboys. The guitar work in particular makes this rise above most "undiscovered" bands of the era.

Download

UPDATE: New links

Just a quick note to say that I have updated the links on 18 posts so far and more will be up soon. I'm making my way back from the most recent posts and you can tell which ones have new links by the (NEW LINK NOV 2015) on the download link.

Rock on!

The return of House of Hairspray!

Well, it's been 6 years since I posted on this blog, but it still seems to be popular - people continue to comment on posts and to send me emails about it.

So, I've decided I'm going to start posting here again. Look out for new reviews/downloads in the near future, aimed mainly towards the obscure and under-appreciated side of glam metal.

And, I'll also be updating the links that are already on here. They're all on Rapidshare, which doesn't even exist anymore, so each one will need to be uploaded to a new server. There's 140-odd posts at this stage, so that's going to be a lot of work, but I'll be doing it gradually. I will post whenever I do an update to let you know what albums are now working (also on the post itself you'll find "updated link" mentioned).

Rock on!