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Mötley Crüe - Saints Of Los Angeles

Published July 29 2008


*
=Staff's pick

L.A.M.F.
Face Down In The Dirt*
What's It Gonna Take
Down At The Whisky
Saints Of Los Angeles*
MF Of The Year
The Animal In Me*
Welcome To The Machine
Just Another Psycho
Chicks = Trouble
This Ain't A Love Song
White Trash Circus
Goin' Out Swingin'


Genre Sleaze Rock
Vince Neil
Vocals
Tracks 13
Mick Mars
Guitar
Runningtime 44 Min.
-
Guitar
Label Mötley Records
Nikki Sixx
Bass
Release 24 June 2008
Tommy Lee
Drums
Country USA
-
Keyboard
Similar artists L.A. Guns, Hanoi Rocks

'Returning to the roots' is a cliché perfectly worn out these days. But here it actually is a bit motivated, since this is a true retro record. Built on the band memoir The Dirt it seems to have woken some shitty memories. Tommy Lee's quite recently made statements that rock is dead and boring and that DJ:ing was his new thing doesn't seem to have influenced the sound of his good old band, as always firmly controlled by Nikki Sixx.

One thing that didn't follow from the old time though is the amount of hits. Actually I cannot pick out one certain future live favorite in the track list. If I still had to choose it would be the title track. Speaking of the title… I wonder why the working title The Dirt (with all the free marketing attached from the successful autobiography) got dropped for the more anonymous Saints Of Los Angeles? I can only guess that it lies some bigger business behind this.

Face Down In The Dirt is a nice piece of kick ass rock 'n' roll, while Down At The Whisky makes me want to cut my own ears off with a rusty knife. The slower The Animal In Me has the most appealing melody and chorus and breaks nicely with the rest of the compositions.

The lyrical theme though is of course compatible with the content of said book. With that almost automatically follows line after line of chauvinistic rock 'n' roll-clichés. Vince Neil has turned his usual lousy vocal performance into something slightly more mature, almost with a touch of Alice Cooper.

In all, Saints Of Los Angeles is a much better record than expected from the old Crüe. It should be said that I never was a die-hard fan in the good old days, but it suffices as party rock in small doses. As such this is a valid link in the catalogue.

Performance
Originality
Production
Vocals
Songwriting

6

5

6

5

6

 
Summary



6 chalices of 10 - David


Related links:

www.motley.com