L.A. Guns - "Rips The Covers Off"
(Shrapnel Records 2004, SH-11702)
L.A. Guns - "Rips The Covers Off"
(Shrapnel Records 2004, SH-11702)
Uploaded to Aural Innovations: July 2004
First the Michael Schenker-David Pattison cover CD and now LA Guns pull out their favourite songs from the 60s and 70s and also covers of songs that were popular in Europe in the 80s. The CD starts with Rock And Roll Outlaw by Rose Tattoo. It suffers from lacking the rawness of the original. I Just Want To Make Love To You by Foghat is very short and has no jam at all. Tie Your Mother Down is pretty uninspired. You can tell the band is having fun and the lead guitar work is quite excellent. Until I Get You by Hanoi Rocks, the Finnish band, is the most commercial track. Wheels Of Steel by Saxon caught me off guard. Nobody’s Fault by Aerosmith follows and it really lacks the power of the original. Custard Pie by Led Zeppelin is given a good treatment and the band play it a bit different. Moonage Daydream by Bowie is a strange one to cover. Nice job! I never thought I would hear someone cover Angel City and have always loved the song Marseilles. A simple song to cover. Hurdy Gurdy Man, a strange choice, is done quite well. Seems that I like the mellow tracks they do the best. The regular tracks of the CD ends with Search And Destroy by the Stooges. The CD has two live bonus tracks, Revolution and Don’t Look At Me That Way.
The guys play well and the production sound is very clean and clear. The band rarely try to do anything interesting with these cover songs to make them their own. It is pretty much covered straight as the originals and I don’t find that very interesting. Why?
For more information you can visit the L.A. Guns web site at: http://www.laguns.net.
Visit the Shrapnel Records web site at: http://www2.shrapnelrecords.com.
Reviewed by Scott Heller