Released: 1988
Tracks: City to City; I Want a Woman; Way Cool Jr.; Don’t Bite the Hand That Feeds; I Want to Love You Tonight; Chain Reaction; No Surprise; Bottom Line; What’s it Gonna Be; What I’m After
Best track: City to City
Track to skip: I Want To Love You Tonight
Yes, it’s Ratt! I do admit that I actually like these guys. When I was in junior high and high school, this was one of the many metal groups my friends and I listened to. Nowadays, most people think of this as ‘hair band’ music and wouldn’t give it a second chance. I really, REALLY hate the term ‘Hair Band’. Yes, I am more than aware that all the guys who are said to be in this genre had big hair. What really annoys me is that the current way of thinking is to call any heavy metal from the 80’s a ‘Hair Band’. I’ve heard Megadeth and Anthrax be called ‘hair bands’. How absolutely wrong and totally ignorant! So anyway, I prefer to call this pop-metal stuff either Glam Metal or just Pop Metal. It is still heavy metal, so it should be referred to as such.
Ratt is no exception. Along with Motley Crue, Ratt is one of the few glam metal bands I like, or even liked back in the day. My brother had all the Ratt albums, so I’m pretty familiar with all of them. Besides the Best Of compilation, Ratt ‘N’ Roll, this is the only Ratt album that I think is worth owning. The rest are OK, but this is pretty enjoyable (well, as enjoyable as Ratt can be!). If you listen with an open mind, you’d find that there’s actually some good guitar playing (courtesy of Warren DiMartini, who even Frank Zappa thought was a good guitarist) and good songwriting. Steven Pearcy’s vocals were never that great, and they do get on my nerves a bit, but they’re tolerable.
If you’re wanting to get a Ratt studio album, this is one to consider. If you just have a passing interest in the band start with Ratt ‘N’ Roll. All things considered this isn’t a bad album, it’s just pretty good. Another reason to get this is for City to City, which is one of my favorite Ratt songs and one they stupidly left off of Ratt ‘N’ Roll. That in itself makes this album essential for fans of Ratt’s music.
Rating: 82
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