Planet Rock - USA (2020-04)

110 PLANET ROCK

Reissues

RATT

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CHERRY RED/HNE

++

Five-album box set

from Los Angeles sleaze-

rock vets.

If nothing else, Ratt inspired

one of the great Kerrang! magaĥ

zine cover lines, with 1990’s Desmond

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outing for Atlantic Records, being greeted

with the headline “Rodent rockers release halfĥ

way decent LP shock!” Such snarkiness was an

indication of how quickly the LA quintet were

left in the dust by their contemporaries, having

once been seen as trailblazers. Inspired by

Aerosmith and Van Halen, the band featured

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album in 1982, before hitting MTV paydirt

with the undeniably catchy Round And Round

on debut album Out Of The Cellar. Creatively,

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ley Crüe, then Bon Jovi, then Guns N’Roses,

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shade. Way Cool Jr on 1988’s Reach For The

Sky showed the quintet capable of a solid

Tyler/Perry impression, but I Want A Woman

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rock which invited the grunge revolution.

DAV E HARRINGTON

BEST TRACKS Round And Round, Wanted Man,

Way Cool Jr

THE UNDERTONES

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BMG

+++++

Deluxe double-LP collec-

tion of the Derry lads’

prime doozies.

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band of a certain vintage hasn’t

bashed out Teenage Kicks in rehearsals?

Lorks, The Ranconteurs and Therapy? even

committed their covers of the song to tape.

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recorded by teenage Northern Ireland punks

The Undertones for their debut single

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they’d channelled a whole generation’s adolesĥ

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only then to have it warbled over in a pecuĥ

liarly unsexy fashion by a young man unforĥ

gettably named Feargal Sharkey. But it worked

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in analysis of the punk music that

soundtracked The Troubles, of course, and

soon Feargal and the boys would go a bit

‘pop’, but if you need more of Teenage Kicks’

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than early tracks like Jump Boys, Male Model

and Jimmy Jimmy, all included here.

DAV E HARRINGTON

DIO

Master Of The Moon

BMG/NIJI ENTERTAINMENT

+++

Expanded reissue of the

final studio set from

Little Ron’s band.

With the greatest respect, in

2004, no one was getting overly

worked up about the prospect of new music

from Ronnie James Dio. But while Mastodon’s

Leviathan album signposted metal’s future, on

Dio’s 10th album the majestic The Man Who

Would Be King and atmospheric Master Of

The Moon title track showed that RJD, ably

abetted by guitarist Craig Goldy, could still

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Ronnie sings, “Rats and bats and spiders and

little things that crawl/Never make me tremĥ

ble, I’m bothered, not at all.” Two years on,

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while penning new songs with Tony Iommi for

the Black Sabbath: The Dio Years compilation,

the singer reunited with the guitarist, Geezer

Butler and Vinny Appice as Heaven & Hell:

their debut, The Devil You Know, actually

makes a stronger case for reminding us why

he had attained icon status.

DAV E HARRINGTON

BEST TRACKS The Man Who Would Be King,

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BAD COMPANY

Desolation Angels:

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RHINO

+++

Brit-rock stalwarts past

their prime, but hanging

in there...

Bad Company’s rock steady

blues made them superstars in

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previously unheard outtake, Rock Fever; so

good value for completists. The album itself

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Fantasy swaggers purposefully around Paul

Rodgers’s soulful roar and Mick Ralphs’

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sparingly. Similarly strong are Gone, Gone

Gone, and Ralphs’ country honk Oh, Atlanta

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after one too many late nights, the original Bad

Co would split within two years. The wheels

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still has much to recommend it.

MARK BLAKE

BEST TRACKS: Rock’N’Roll Fantasy, Gone,

Gone, Gone, Oh, Atlanta

GLENN HUGHES

Justified Man: The Studio Albums

Ħ

PURPLE/CHERRY RED

+++

Decent box set compris-

ing six mid-period solo

albums.

He’s manned mics for everyone

from Deep Purple to The KLF,

but then who wouldn’t want ‘The Voice of

Rock’ in on their act? This box reminds us

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Feel lack balls, Hughes was cranking decibels

impressively again by 1996’s Addiction

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Hendrix’s Freedom with real zest on 1999’s

The Way It Is. Elsewhere, Lol Tolhurst of The

Cure guests on 2000’s Return Of Crystal

Karma, but the best LPs here are 2001’s

Building The Machine, where Can’t Stop The

Flood and a take on Deep Purple’s Highball

Shooter showcase Hughes’s miraculous lungs,

and 200 3 ’s Songs In The Key Of Rock, where

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-XVWLÀHG0DQ isn’t home to Glenn’s best songĥ

writing by any means, but there’s treasure

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JAMES MCNAIR

BEST TRACKS: In My Blood, Gasoline, The

State I’m In, Highball Shooter