Always had a soft spot for these guys...and while this is no "Round and Round," it's way better than I expected. Quite good, even:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjEYZaG8rYQ

I am not ashamed to say I've been enjoying this tune lately, too. Will be listening to the album later tonight!

Let me know if it's decent. I would love a solid new Ratt album.

Ratt circa 1983-85 was untouchable, one of the finest singles bands of the 1980s. They don't make hooks like those anymore.

was always a fan of pearcy's vocals...sounded dirty and raw..
videos were pretty funny too...

Ratt is a quality band. Out of the Cellar is a solid, frequently spectacular album.

I was always a big Cinderella fan too.

DAMN, this album is good! Total Dancin' Undercover feel.

Was way too into the new wave scene at that time to give bands like this much time. Except seeing them on MTV in heavy rotation...and that one album cover...a personal favorite.

Jeez, this sounds surprisingly good, Pearcy's voice a little roughed up, but, damn, who knew these guys could still bring it. Looking forward to hearing the album now.

whoa... time warp.

i always thought Cinderella was tops in this genre..."Night Songs", and "Long Cold Winter" were stellar cassettes!

caught the Long Cold Winter live show from the 2nd row.
it blew my young mind...think i saw my first pair of real live boobs there too!

The chorus and backing vocals throughout are over done and really rob the song of its punch. Not bad, but it doesn't hit as hard as it should (or is supposed to, IMO).

i agree..thought the backing sounded like old van halen

Exactly what I thought.

It's just like the last Dokken album from a couple of years ago, these great 80s pop metal bands are going back to what they did best 25 years ago and finding out it works as well now as it did back then.

guess this is where i announce that i liked the last SCORPIONS record (Humanity) quite a bit...

Great track!

At this point, if a lot of bands like this made a come back I might actually welcome it.

fuck it - bring back hooks and harmonies and people in goofy 80's clothes. that might be fun for a while

edit: Sask, exactly what Dokken album are you talking about it?




You mean this cover?

Well sure, because in the 20-25 year cycle of music, we went through the "avoid your brother's record collection like the plague" phase, where these bands either broke up or went underground immediately after they fell out of favor, to the "I can like this in an ironic way because it was popular 15 years ago" phase, during which a bunch of these bands got back together and felt it was necessary to try to sound modern to take one last shot at top 40 success, to the "I wasn't even born when this music was popular so I can say I like it without being picked on" phase, during which these bands find a semi-renaissance with younger fans and 35-45 year old income earners who were their teenage fans back in the day.

We're just in the budding phase 2 for grunge right now. I'm sure Lady Gaga will be sporting some sort of flannel outfit in the next 5 years.

That's no Way Cool Jr.

Lightning Strikes Again. I didn't expect it to be as good as it turned out to be.

Further proof that this album is a really good one..."Eat Me Up Alive":

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/news/Ratt...tion-21072.aspx

Loved Ratt but fuck if they weren't the worst band live ever!

That album cover... uh... yeah. I was born in '71 and will admit that was some classy material for the "spank bank."

Particle, I really like your post toward the bottom of page 1 re: the career life cycle of bands (like this). Totally on the money.

I saw Ratt a few times in '85 and '86. Once opening for Motley Crue at the Springfield (MA) Civic Center on the last night of the Crue's "Speak of the Devil" tour in May or June of '84, last show before Vince killed that guy from Hanoi Rocks while drunk driving. General admission in an arena, totally insane. I was in 7th grade and went to the show with the rest of my band, and we played the singer's bar mitzvah the next day, all wearing Ratt & Roll 3/4 sleeve jersey shirts over our shirts and ties while butchering such magnificent songs as "Whole Lotta Love," "Unchained," "Sunshine Of Your Love" and "Beat It."

Next time, Ratt played an open air festival at the Kingston (NH) Fairgrounds in July '84, it was called Summer Jam and was pretty awesome. Cheap Trick headlined, had a lot of sound problems, stopped their show twice for reasons that were not audible or apparent to anyone in the audience and ultimately played for about 40 minutes. Twisted Sister played before that and ironically had the #1 song on the charts at the time ("We're Not Gonna Take It") and their 45-minute set included what seemed like a 20-minute version of "I Wanna Rock" which would later be a hit for them. Ratt played before that and Pearcy continually addressed the crowd as "New England New Hampshire!" "How ya feelin', New England New Hampshire?" "It's so great to be here, New England New Hampshire!" "You're a great crowd, New England New Hampshire!" Awesome. Before that, Lita Ford played, before her song about not getting laid on a Saturday night, back when she was only known among Sabbath fans because she was married to or dating Tony Iommi. She wore clear plastic cups as a bra. Opening band was a local Boston band called Lines, who had a local radio hit at the time with a cover of "Dirty Water" - Dee Snider thanked them for playing during Twisted Sister's set and I thought that was cool. I still think that was cool. #1 song in the country, rock star, on a headlining arena tour with a stop at a New Hampshire festival where you're leading into Cheap Trick who at the time were on a relative down cycle - "If You Want My Love" was big a couple years prior but their most current single was the theme from the forgettable movie "Up the Creek." But we're talking about Ratt....

Last Rat show for me was the fall of '86. Second album was out. "You're In Love" was a huge hit. Worcester Centrum. Opening band was Bon Jovi on their 7800 Fahrenheit tour (JBJ was 24 years old). Rat was bigger, but Bon Jovi blew them out of the building. I was taping the show with my portable Aiwa cassette recorder and got pinched by venue security. They took my batteries and tape. Dang.

Still, I'm more interested in buying the new Ratt album than the new stuff by any of the other bands mentioned above. Except Cheap Trick. They're awesome.

Leaked...

Hey did they get a guy to replace Crosby, or is De Martini doing the axe-ing by himself?

Carlos Cavazo from Quiet Riot actually. They have those twin leads going again.

Thanks. You know that twinlead thing almost always sucks, e.g., Night Ranger, etc.

No way, twin leads rule! Classic stuff.

I'm with Sask. Twin leads rule.

I thought the preferred term was 'guitarmonies.'

looks like ryan adams is a fan. he just posted this status update on his facebook page:

Ryan Adams: "It's not everybody's cup of tea but.....new RATT album is really really good ( for those of you who enjoy that kind of music... track 2, 3 and 11 are rad if you just dig singles. "BEST OF ME" is the killer track-sick guitars and vocals are amazing!!! Happy Sunday!!!"

and a minute later..

Ryan Adams "I really dig the production too. Also Pearcy is singing maybe even better-even crazier more harshed up rocking vocals than last album... they sound reallyu rehearsed and really ready. perfect driving round record."

I haven't tired of this album one bit.

Thin Lizzy prominently featured twin leads. End of discussion.

Stopped on the way home today to pick this up. The guy at the store said they got 5 copies and sold 'em all. Ratt & roll...