As a spotty teen in the mid-80’s Glam Metal was very much a thing in my native Nottingham and for a while I too was sucked into the genre (well foundation was good at hiding the zits), before moving onto harder territory around the time the United Nations started taking action on the depletion of the ozone layer and hairspray went out of vogue. Tigertailz did not really cross my radar at the time – dominated as it was by the frankly hugely successful American side of the movement, and I guess that now that I have relocated to their hometown of Cardiff, the least I can do is at least see what all the fuss was about.
Archive box sets from the past have been around forever, but label Cherry Red are very reverential when they pull releases like this together, and still focus on a physical product over a streamed one. Too many of these things can end up being an exercise in corner cutting to cream the maximum from the collector market, but this label goes out of their way to give the fans something they have not had before.
In this case the box set is built around Tigertailz’ first two albums with Music For Nations, and along with a good restoration and remastering taking place on the actual recordings, the third disk in the set includes the rare Shoot To Kill EP, some extended remixes, radio edits, live cuts and vinyl only B-sides, so for the period covered it’s pretty darned comprehensive. Add to this a nice 24-page glossy booklet and what you have is pretty good value for money.
The first disk is all about the 1987 debut Young And Crazy, but they’ve filled the disk out with three demo tracks that never made the final album cut. This is the record that probably struggles the most over the decades, and not just for the demo tracks. I can imagine that the budget for the original recording was not too high, and it’s difficult even with all the technological advances of the modern age to improve too much on these original cuts, but this is still a massive improvement on the original in terms of quality.
The first disk is all about the 1987 debut Young And Crazy, but they’ve filled the disk out with three demo tracks that never made the final album cut. This is the record that probably struggles the most over the decades, and not just for the demo tracks. I can imagine that the budget for the original recording was not too high, and it’s difficult even with all the technological advances of the modern age to improve too much on these original cuts, but this is still a massive improvement on the original in terms of quality.
More importantly it captures the energy and frisson they had, no doubt fuelled with enthusiasm and stimulants to cut the disk in the constrained recording window, so it has the energy even now and part of the charm lies in the honest brashness. It’s clear though that the weak part is the vocals, and although Steevi Jaimz has his moments (notably on closing ballad Fall In Love Again) you can see why he only lasted for the one album. Jim Dovey actually comes out better on the three demo tracks… and the musicians are surprisingly good in places.
Disk 2 is all about 1990’s Bezerk, and so great is the contrast between this and its forerunner, you could be forgiven for thinking it was a completely different band. In some ways this is true, as the four years that had passed since the debut had seen Kim Hooker taking over vocal duties (although his predecessor would continue to be a thorn in the brand’s side for years to come).
Disk 2 is all about 1990’s Bezerk, and so great is the contrast between this and its forerunner, you could be forgiven for thinking it was a completely different band. In some ways this is true, as the four years that had passed since the debut had seen Kim Hooker taking over vocal duties (although his predecessor would continue to be a thorn in the brand’s side for years to come).
Hooker is a much stronger singer than his predecessor, with more range and flexibility, and when you add a far better production standard then he really comes to the fore. Musically, this is much more bubblegum Hair Metal than it’s more Rough ‘n’ Roll predecessor for a band with a much bigger profile trying to compete with the radio domination of their Stateside template Poison.
Although it’s the same instrumentalists in the line up, they feel like they are pulling their punches at the alter of commerciality here. The debut demonstrated that there were some surprisingly good things going on technically in their writing and playing, which made up for the weak vocal melodies, but this is album pure KISS (as in the expression Keep It Simple Stupid, rather than the band).
Although it’s the same instrumentalists in the line up, they feel like they are pulling their punches at the alter of commerciality here. The debut demonstrated that there were some surprisingly good things going on technically in their writing and playing, which made up for the weak vocal melodies, but this is album pure KISS (as in the expression Keep It Simple Stupid, rather than the band).
It was a tough call to make – I miss the musicality and rock ‘n’ roll honesty of the first album, but it’s gained a much better frontman and singer and richness of production, but the song writing is much stronger than I expected. Sadly, the point when they get it right is the point when the world loses interest in metrosexual blokes in make-up in favour of the lumberjack shirt and an odeur de sueur… When they did cut a new full studio album, the musical landscape and their sound would be very, very different.
The third disk is an oddity, however. I assumed when I saw this coming that disk 3 would be built around the Banzai! Japan only release, but although it shares some of the content, there are a few gaps, presumably because getting clearance for the Metallica and Megadeath tracks was too hard, but maybe these will crop up in Volume 2.
For completists they will tick some boxes, but it’s the remastered studio albums that shine well across the years. In summary I was pleasantly surprised, having only really heard singles at rock clubs back in the day, so listening to the albums in full for the first time was a surprising revelation.
The third disk is an oddity, however. I assumed when I saw this coming that disk 3 would be built around the Banzai! Japan only release, but although it shares some of the content, there are a few gaps, presumably because getting clearance for the Metallica and Megadeath tracks was too hard, but maybe these will crop up in Volume 2.
For completists they will tick some boxes, but it’s the remastered studio albums that shine well across the years. In summary I was pleasantly surprised, having only really heard singles at rock clubs back in the day, so listening to the albums in full for the first time was a surprising revelation.
The band are still going, albeit with only founder member Jay Pepper remaining in the line-up, but there remains a lot of love for these boys in these parts of South Wales, and having lifted the lid on this slice of the past I can see why. 8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment