L.A. Guns - Cocked & Loaded

L.A. Guns – Cocked & Loaded
1989 Vertigo Records/PolyGram Records
5 Stars

L.A. Guns comes out on their second album with Guns blazing. The sound is bigger guitar solos are on fire and memorable songs fill these fourteen tracks. The band establish themselves as a solid member of the 80’s heavy metal elite with a top 40 album and brilliant rockers’ and an amazing power ballad in The Ballad Of Jayne that anyone who listened to rock radio or is a fan of 1980’s heavy metal couldn’t help but remember.

L.A. Guns had found themselves in the game with the big boys of the time and finally had freed themselves of the relationship with Guns N’ Roses. The songs on this album are catchy sing along anthems that although didn’t rip up the charts did get rock radio play and certified Cocked & Loaded as arguably one of the best mainstream heavy metal albums of 1989.

Where to start is a tough call because there is goodness in the entire album but if I were to send you to iTunes with a limited amount of songs I’d recommend Rip and Tear, Never Enough, The Ballad Of Jayne, Magdalaine, 17 Crash and the CD only track I Wanna Be Your Man.

Fans of Guns N’ Roses, Motley Crue, Faster Pussycat, Love/Hate, and Ratt would enjoy this album.

Copyright © 2010 Kevin P. Johnson all rights reserved.
Album art and song titles and lyrics are used as fair use for review purposes and will be removed at the copyright holders request.

L.A. Guns - L.A. Guns

L.A. Guns – L.A. Guns

1988 Vertigo Records/PolyGram Records

3 Stars

L.A. Guns is the band that combined with Hollywood Rose to form the original lineup of Guns N’ Roses. L.A. Guns are a gritty hard rockin’ Los Angeles heavy metal band that who although had great songs couldn’t breakthrough to longtime mainstream superstardom. On the L.A. Guns debut album Tracii Guns wails on his guitar as Phil Lewis raspy vocals lead you through eleven dirty glam metal rockers.

The album is full of songs worthy of any band in L.A. during the 1980’s metal scene but although the band released videos for One Way Ticket, One More Reason, Sex Action, Electric Gypsy, Bitch is Back, and Cry No More in 1988 but mainstream radio did not pick up on any of these singles. Fans of heavy metal new of L.A. Guns and the relationship to Guns N’ Roses but this album sadly went unnoticed until the release of their second album Cocked & Loaded.

The only problem with the L.A. Guns album is that there is no real anthem no real hit song that towers above the others or makes them stand out. If you want to rock this album will rock you but it won’t have you singing in the shower or in the halls of local high school but they will find the right formula on their sophomore album Cocked & Loaded.

I have rated this album 3 stars but it is a very high three stars and is almost a 4 star effort.

You will want to check out the songs that were released on video first One Way Ticket, One More Reason, Sex Action, Electric Gypsy, Bitch is Back, and Cry No More.

Fans of Guns N’ Roses, Motley Crue, Faster Pussycat, Love/Hate, and Ratt would enjoy this album.

Copyright © 2010 Kevin P. Johnson all rights reserved.
Album art and song titles and lyrics are used as fair use for review purposes and will be removed at the copyright holders request.