Best Crue album since Dr Feelgood?

[machinegunner]

Have been going through another Crue phase since i pondered what 6 questions to ask Mr. Sixx. Did some catching up on my 'Cruestory' and made some cdrs for the car.

And I listened to their last few albums again with fresh ears... will be adding some summary thoughts later on, but for now MC fans i'm interested in how you think they compare...

[Subtle Signs]

94

Swine

NT

SOLA

[Broskirose]

Motley Crue and the world filter should get together some time.

[Sixes]

new tattoo and saints of los angeles are terrible, terrible albums

[Dazey]

Motley Crue and the world filter should get together some time.

Literally came into this thread to say precisely that.

[Gordon Comstock]

MC94 is the only solid album they did post Feelgood IMO. Swine is 50/50 for me, and I have to be in the right mood for it or I can't listen to it. SOLA would've been a lot better with different production. I rate them:

MC94

SOLA

Swine

NT

[wfuckinga]

woah, an MC thread i didn't start!

I love SOLA. From Face Down In The Dirt, SOLA, Mutherfucker, Chicks=Trouble, Down at the Whisky, The Animal In Me, Just Another Psycho, This Ain't A Love Song, White Trash Circus, Goin' Out Swingin'....all great songs. I dig NT as well, Hell on High Heels rules. GS: I can stand the album. Not one of my faves, but I love SATD '97 and Rocketship. MC94 is cool, i love me some crabs (inb4 sti jokoe), but when I say Motley Crue album, I think of one with Vinny on vocals.

[Powerage5]

None of the above. Feelgood is the last Crue album I like front to back. SOLA had it's moments...but not enough of them.

[wfuckinga]

Nikki said recently, like a few days ago, his least fave album (not including TOP) was GS

[jekylhyde]

The one with Corabi. To me it's their best album. Sure the other albums have the hits, but the selftitled is more consistent as a whole.

[Towelie]

^^ The hits? What hits were on SOLA or New Tattoo or GS?

MC94 is the only Crue album I've never heard. I might check it out though, as it seems to be quite popular round these parts....

[Gordon Comstock]

The SOLA title track was actually a fairly big hit when it came out, it was the first real promo they did for Crue Fest.

edit: What about 'Afraid'?

Edited January 3, 2014 by RickRoses

[Mr. Dude]

The Corabi album is definitely their best since Feelgood. It might be my favorite Crue from a purely musical perspective. Shout at the Devil was a good concept album though.

of course, I'm in the unique position of liking Corabi better than Neil, but not wishing Vince was dead. I thought it was funny somebody called me an "internet white knight" because I don't wish death on Vince Neil.

Didn't DJ Ashba write a lot of SOLA? or is that just an unsubstantiated rumor?

Edited January 3, 2014 by Mr. Dude

[Gordon Comstock]

The Corabi album is definitely their best since Feelgood. It might be my favorite Crue from a purely musical perspective. Shout at the Devil was a good concept album though.

of course, I'm in the unique position of liking Corabi better than Neil, but not wishing Vince was dead. I thought it was funny somebody called me an "internet white knight" because I don't wish death on Vince Neil.

Didn't DJ Ashba write a lot of SOLA? or is that just an unsubstantiated rumor?

I think he's got credits on at least 2 songs, but really SOLA was written by 'Sixx:A.M.'.

[machinegunner]

My reviews of the 4 albums:

"MOTLEY CRUE" (1994)
All lyrics written by John Corabi and Nikki Sixx, all music composed by Corabi, Sixx,
Mick Mars and Tommy Lee, except where noted.

1. "Power to the Music" 5:12 ............................................................1/5
2. "Uncle Jack" 5:28 ..........................................................................3/5
3. "Hooligan's Holiday" 5:51 .............................................................2/5
4. "Misunderstood" 6:53 ...................................................................1/5
5. "Loveshine" 2:36 ........................................................................... 3/5
6. "Poison Apples" (Corabi, Sixx, Mars, Lee, Bob Rock) 3:40 ...... 2/5
7. "Hammered" 5:15 ......................................................................... 4/5
8. "Til Death Do Us Part" 6:03 .........................................................4/5
9. "Welcome to the Numb" 5:18 .......................................................1/5
10. "Smoke the Sky" 3:36 ................................................................. 3.5/5
11. "Droppin' Like Flies" 6:26 .......................................................... 1.5/5
12. "Driftaway" 4:00 ........................................................................... 1/5

Average song rating - 44%

Best songs - Hammered, Till Death Do Us Part

Also notable - Smoke The Sky, Loveshine

General Comments - In 1994 I was eager to hear what the new Motley Crue album was like. I was disappointed. The album, sadly, has hardly endeared itself to me any more since.

While Corabi renews Motley Crue's sound with his sense of melody, plenty of attitude, 60's psychedelic sounds and bluesy phrasing in his singing, and it's very impressive how the rest of Motley Crue respond to those new sounds on this album (Misunderstood and Power To The People sound epic, but unfortunately the lyrics aren't so great) , songwritingwise it still mostly doesn't speak to me.

And quite often i'm not feelin the supposed 'power' of it... eg. for me Hooligan's Holiday feels like it drags on for about 2 minutes too long. The lyrics are often very cheesy, not least on Power To The People, and i don't think there are any obvious 'hell yeah' awesome songs. There are sometimes awesome beatles-sounding bits in songs here and there, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Byrds...

I am a fan of John Corabi, i like his work in Union (their live album, Live In The Galaxy, is excellent). But in this instance, overall, i don't think he was, or Motley Crue were, very successful.

Concluding comments and rating: Quite inessential, 1.5/5. In retrospect, a mere curiosity.

GENERATION SWINE

1. "Find Myself" Nikki Sixx, Mick Mars, Tommy Lee 2:51 ........ 2/5
2. "Afraid" 4:07.......................................................................3.5/5
3. "Flush" Sixx, Lee, John Corabi 5:03..................................... 2/5
4. "Generation Swine" Sixx, Lee 4:39 ..................................... 3/5

5. "Confessions" Lee Lee, Mars 4:21 .........................................2/5
6. "Beauty" Sixx, Scott Humphrey Sixx, Lee 3:47 ....................... 2/5
7. "Glitter" Sixx, Bryan Adams Sixx, Humphrey, Adams 5:00.... 4.5/5
8. "Anybody Out There?" Lee, Sixx 1:50 ................................... 1/5
9. "Let Us Prey" Sixx, Corabi 4:22 ............................................ 1.5/5 awarded mainly for sonic merit.
10. "Rocketship" 2:05 ................................................................ 4/5
11. "A Rat Like Me" 4:13 ............................................................ 4/5
12. "Shout at the Devil '97" 3:43 ................................................ 2/5

13. "Brandon" Lee Lee 3:25 .......................................................... 2.5/5

Average song rating - 51.5%

Best tracks : Glitter, Rocketship, A Rat Like Me

Other notable: Afraid

Robin Zander and Rick Nielson of Cheap Trick play on "Glitter."

General comments:

Back with all 4 original members. Corabi claimed he had been responsible for 80% of the album, and the album certainly seems to have the ghost of Corabi looming over it. A lot of Neil's singing seems to be in a very Corabi-like style with the phrasing, beatles-y melodies, and so on largely retained. If Nikki Sixx failed to properly credit Corabi for his input that is a rotten thing to do (will have to investigate that story further). Vince Neil, now a free agent employed by Motley Crue Inc, seems to adapt dutifully to the requirements of the album like a man who could sing random pages of the phone book and make it sound good...he seems ready for anything and adapts like a champion to the grungy grooves and electronica and 'alternative' sounds Motley Crue was now adopting thanks largely to Tommy Lee's Methods Of Mayhem producer Scott Humphrey, but some of the time it sounds a bit throwaway and half-assed (Find Myself, Anybody Out There...), or only half-realized (Flush, Beauty...). Lee was at odds with any new material that he thought sounded like 'old Motley Crue'... Mick Mars didn't feel comfortable with Humphreys... Shout At The Devil '07 - the more bass-groove-heavy version here really is a bit redundant as it is not an improvement on the original, and its inclusion seems like a desperate afterthought to help bolster an overall lame album a bit. Again, interesting sounds result from all the experimentation but an equally poor ratio of quality songs... 2/5

NEW TATTOO (2000)

1."Hell on High Heels" (Mick Mars, Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx) – 4:15 ---------------------- 4.5/5
2."Treat Me Like the Dog I Am" (James Michael, Sixx) – 3:40--------------------------- 2/5
3."New Tattoo" (Mars, Michael, Sixx) – 4:18---------------------------------------------------4/5
4."Dragstrip Superstar" (Michael, Sixx) – 4:22--------------------------------------------------2/5
5."1st Band on the Moon" (Sixx) – 4:25------------------------------------------------------------2/5
6."She Needs Rock & Roll" (Michael, Sixx) – 3:59------------------------------------------------2/5
7."Punched in the Teeth by Love" (Randy Castillo, Mars, Neil, Sixx) – 3:32----------------4/5
8."Hollywood Ending" (Michael, Sixx) – 3:43-----------------------------------------------------2.5/5
9."Fake" (Michael, Sixx) – 3:44-----------------------------------------------------------------------3/5
10."Porno Star" (Sixx) – 3:45--------------------------------------------------------------------------2/5
11."White Punks on Dope" (Michael Evans, Bill Spooner, Roger Steen) – 3:39------------0/5

Average song rating - 51%

Best songs - Hell On High Heels, New Tattoo, Punched In The Teeth By Love.

Other notable - Fake, American Zero (Japan bonus track)

Comments - Tommy Lee leaves, Randy Castillo in. Again, 3 or 4 good songs and the rest half-assed. The songs Sixx wrote with James Michael, from Sixx AM, especially suck - bland, kind of formulaic, forgettable rubbish. eg. Hollywood Ending - it sounds like an ultra contrived effort at a feel-good song but it's not a patch on, say, Home Sweet Home. New Tattoo (the song) is far more genuinely heartfelt. The tacking-on of a pointless cover shows how lacking they were in the songwriting department. A more straight-ahead sounding album -- Hell On High Heels sounds like a classic 'Girls' or 'Feelgood' era Motley classic! Punched In The Teeth By Love is a classic rocker type song that allows Mick Mars to totally rock out -- but again quite disappointing and unremarkable. 1.5/5

SAINTS OF LOS ANGELES (2008)

1. "L.A.M.F." Nikki Sixx, James Michael, DJ Ashba, Marti Frederiksen 1:23 ...........intro, not worth rating, just heightens the cheese/cartoonish factor
2. "Face Down in the Dirt" Sixx, Michael, Ashba, Frederiksen 3:44 ..................................2/5
3. "What's It Gonna Take" Sixx, Michael, Ashba, Frederiksen 3:45 ...................................3/5
4. "Down at the Whisky" Sixx, Michael, Ashba, Frederiksen 3:50 ......................................4.5/5
5. "Saints of Los Angeles" Sixx, Michael, Ashba, Frederiksen 3:40 ..................................2/5
6. "Mutherfucker of the Year" Sixx, Mick Mars, Michael, Ashba, Frederiksen 3:55 ...........3.5/5
7. "The Animal in Me" Sixx, Mars, Michael, Ashba, Frederiksen 4:16 ................................ 4/5
8. "Welcome to the Machine" Sixx, Michael, Ashba, Frederiksen 3:00 ..............................1/5
9. "Just Another Psycho" Sixx, Mars, Michael, Ashba, Frederiksen 3:36 ...........................2/5
10. "Chicks = Trouble" Sixx, Mars, Michael, Ashba, Frederiksen 3:13 ...............................1/5
11. "This Ain't a Love Song" Sixx, Mars, Tommy Lee, Michael, Frederiksen 3:25 ............ 4/5
12. "White Trash Circus" Sixx, Mars, Michael, Ashba, Frederiksen 2:51 ...........................1/5
13. "Goin' Out Swingin'" Sixx, Michael, Ashba, Frederiksen 3:27 .......................................1.5/5
Total length: 44:03

Average song rating - 49%

*disclaimer - earlier, when i said it was a 'good' album, i was mistaken... that was only after playing it in the car a couple of times.

Motley Crue seem to think any album with 3 good songs on it, is a good album... but it's really not...

Best songs - Down At The Whiskey, The Animal In Me, This Ain't A Love Song

Other notable: Motherfucker Of The Year

Comments: Again, a high proportion of it is very bland instantly disposable songwriting with only a few good songs. 2/5

Resulting Playlist i made of the best songs from all 4 albums -

01. Hammered
02 Till Death Do Us Part
03. Smoke The Sky
04 Glitter
05 Rocketship
06 Rat Like Me
07 Afraid
08 Hell On High Heels
09 New Tattoo
10 Punched In The Teeth By Love
11 Fake
12 American Zero
13 Down At The Whiskey
14 The Animal In Me
15 This Ain't A Love Song
16 Motherfucker Of The Year

Can always round it off with a few equally good extras from 'Red, White and Crue' (2004) -

17 Bitter pill
18 If I Die Tomorrow
19 Enslaved
20 Street Fighting Man
21 Anarchy In The UK
22 Primal Scream

[Sixes]

bitter pill and enslaved are 2 of their all time best songs

[machinegunner]

bitter pill and enslaved are 2 of their all time best songs

That's why they made my playlist

Was just surprised to discover that those 2 songs had been around since 1998 on 'Greatest Hits' (only knew them from 2004's 'Red, White And Crue ') - why didn't they include them on an album that could badly use them?!

Anyway... when i did a lyric search i also discovered that the 1998 'Greatest Hits' had a remix of Glitter... that will go straight onto my playlist. As will a few other neglected gems that never made it onto an album:

Revamped 'The Best Of Post-Dr.Feelgood Motley Crue' playlist -

01. Hammered

02 Till Death Do Us Part

03. Smoke The Sky

04 Glitter

05 Rocketship

06 Rat Like Me

07 Afraid

08 Hell On High Heels

09 New Tattoo

10 Punched In The Teeth By Love

11 Fake

12 American Zero

13 Down At The Whiskey

14 The Animal In Me

15 This Ain't A Love Song

16 Motherfucker Of The Year

some extras from 'Red, White and Crue' (2004) -

17 Bitter pill

18 If I Die Tomorrow

19 Enslaved

20 Street Fighting Man

21 Anarchy In The UK

22 Primal Scream

other good bonus extras that didn't make it on an official album -

23 Glitter (Remix) - from 'Greatest Hits' (1998)

24 Rock n' Roll Junkie (from 'Decade Of Decadence' (1991))

25 Teaser (Tommy Bolin cover, from 'Decade Of Decadence')

best songs from 'Supersonic And Demonic Relics' (1999), a 'rare leftovers' sort of compilation album:

26 Sinners And Saints

29 Say Yeah

Edited January 7, 2014 by machinegunner

[Sixes]

always liked their cover of Tonight

and Stick to Your Guns, Toast of the Town, Black Widow are also solid songs

Edited January 7, 2014 by axl666axl666

[wfuckinga]

^^ The hits? What hits were on SOLA or New Tattoo or GS?

MC94 is the only Crue album I've never heard. I might check it out though, as it seems to be quite popular round these parts....

SOLA: SOLA, Mutherfucker, Afraid, The Animal In Me

NT: Hell On High Heels

GS: Shout '97

bitter pill and enslaved are 2 of their all time best songs

That's why they made my playlist

Was just surprised to discover that those 2 songs had been around since 1998 on 'Greatest Hits' (only knew them from 2004's 'Red, White And Crue ') - why didn't they include them on an album that could badly use them?!

Anyway... when i did a lyric search i also discovered that the 1998 'Greatest Hits' had a remix of Glitter... that will go straight onto my playlist. As will a few other neglected gems that never made it onto an album:

Revamped 'The Best Of Post-Dr.Feelgood Motley Crue' playlist -

01. Hammered

02 Till Death Do Us Part

03. Smoke The Sky

04 Glitter

05 Rocketship

06 Rat Like Me

07 Afraid

08 Hell On High Heels

09 New Tattoo

10 Punched In The Teeth By Love

11 Fake

12 American Zero

13 Down At The Whiskey

14 The Animal In Me

15 This Ain't A Love Song

16 Motherfucker Of The Year

some extras from 'Red, White and Crue' (2004) -

17 Bitter pill

18 If I Die Tomorrow

19 Enslaved

20 Street Fighting Man

21 Anarchy In The UK

22 Primal Scream

other good bonus extras that didn't make it on an official album -

23 Glitter (Remix) - from 'Greatest Hits' (1998)

24 Rock n' Roll Junkie (from 'Decade Of Decadence' (1991))

25 Teaser (Tommy Bolin cover, from 'Decade Of Decadence')

best songs from 'Supersonic And Demonic Relics' (1999), a 'rare leftovers' sort of compilation album:

26 Sinners And Saints

29 Say Yeah

You should add Face Down In The Dirt, SOLA and Chicks=Trouble to the list

[DR DOOM]

Generation Swine

[metallex78]

^^ The hits? What hits were on SOLA or New Tattoo or GS?

MC94 is the only Crue album I've never heard. I might check it out though, as it seems to be quite popular round these parts....

My advice is, don't listen to this album expecting a typical Crue album.

Listen to it with an open mind as a different band, and I think you'll like it.

To me, it's the band at their creative peak, and 20 years later I still rate it as one of my favourite hard rock albums.