New Tattoo

Watching The Dirt made me realize I never finished the last two records of this discography, and now I remember why I was putting it off. After a very unsteady decade for Motley Crue, the band would head into the new millennium returning to their glam roots. With the self titled record having a more recent revival which proved its excellence, the band would bring Vince Neil back for Generation Swine. It may be one of the most hated records by them, but I dug it, and applaud it treading far away from safe territory. And that's exactly what the issue is with New Tattoo; it's far too safe.

By safe, I don't mean it's void of explicit content driven by sex and drugs. Instead, I mean it doesn't do anything that remotely reflects innovation. Sure, it's easy enough for a band to make something great with the bare basics, but Nikki and co. don't do that here. There is no real memorability to the songs, every guitar passage feels forced and run-of-the-mill, and tunes like "1st Band On The Moon" sound like they're gonna drop fire but wind up being average at best. There is one track that stands out, that being the title track thanks to its ballady acoustics creating smooth layers of resonance.

Really, the playing isn't even horrible, and Vince's singing is alright. It may seem like I'm being too hard on this disc, but what breaks it into worse territory is the level of cringe in the lyrics. "Hell On High Heels," "Treat Me Like The dog I Am," among others can probably tell you all you need just from the title. Granted, I have a soft spot for bands that can pull this off in a fun and barbaric way, but usually musicians that are hitting middle age and living on past success can't produce that. The end product winds up being unflattering, which can't be saved by soulless rhythm passages.

I guess New Tattoo is worth hearing, or at least a few songs, but it's a sad excuse for reflecting on the '80s glam metal days that worked so well back then and fall flat now. There is far worse material out there, but New Tattoo is absolute bare minimum effort that holds no value beyond completing a collection. Thank God I found this for three bucks in a used bin once.

After the fantastic 1994 album (that John Corabi one, which many people didn't want to understand) and more alternatively experimental 'Generation Swine' in 1997, ribald L.A. rockers Mötley Crüe took another long-ish period to create their next one. The original drummer Tommy Lee was absent, and there was a pretty fucking lame excuse to that: A fight with his wife Pamela Anderson got him behing bars. During sitting in jail, he left the band and formed Methods Of Mayhem.

But this is about 'New Tattoo', and it is totally anti-experimental. And it was, of course, intentional. It was seen as a successor to 1989 hit album 'Dr. Feelgood'. Mike Clink was recruited to produce this. He was known working and succeeding with acts like Guns N' Roses, Heart, Whitesnake and Aerosmith. And interestingly, Megadeth and Metallica, from metalheads' point of view. 'New Tattoo' was destined for grandeur, but what happened? Well, it hit the No. 41 on the "Billboard 200", and then started to drop in positions.

However, that's saying nothing about the quality of the album. To put it simply, 'New Tattoo' bloody rocks! I'm not writing this lightly, because I am not easily entertained by (glam) rock. Crüe, on the other hand, I knew already when I was about 10 years old, since fantastic 'Shout at the Devil' in 1983... No wonder I became this dirty motherfucker, ha!

This is a bonafide party rock album, right here. Surely the spirits of such legends as Hanoi Rocks, Aerosmith and Kiss, are present in Crüe's colorful good-time boogie. Mick Mars' guitar playing can be bluesy, hard rocking or metal (for the latter, check out 'Punched in the Teeth by Love'); it definitely has loads of punch and even rip in it. Vince Neil's voice was still in a good enough shape when they nailed down this album; his nasal, tinny sound still hits high register. Nikki Sixx's bass is, without any surprises, rumbling-as-fuck! The drums were commanded by Randy Castillo (ex-Lita Ford, ex-Ozzy Osbourne). He handled them with potency, surely, but didn't carry such strong characteristics as Tommy Lee. That's the biggest deficiency about the album, and that can not as a matter of fact be called as "deficiency" anyway. One can simply hear it's not Tommy banging here! But otherwise, the band is easily recognized, and they rock out their way.

The album begins with heavier and faster pieces, then the title track goes into slower "ballad" mood (acoustics, country melodies, "she" being a subject [see below...]), a bit like 'Home Sweet Home' for 00s. Yeah, it doesn't carry that legendary status, but is still a cool song. The album is mostly filled by hard rocking songs, 'Hollywood Ending' being second "ballad" piece. The harder ones are conveniently varying, moving around huge rock area, from aforementioned hard rock, metal and blue territories to melodic punk. The Tubes cover 'White Punks on Dope, is a fine closer done by forgetting the theatrics of the originals. In all, this is not a tored album at all, if not a-legend-to-be.

Some trivia for metalheads: The album's cover artwork was inspired by Bruce Dickinson album 'Tattooed Millionaire'. Why? Well, that album's title track is said to be inspired by the little thing between Dickinson's wife and Nikki Sixx... With this, Crüe had their payback. Yep, they are such motherfuckers...

New tattoo, but old school way. This is Crüe going years and years back, closer to their roots and albums that matter. Fucking rockin'!

(Originally written for ArchaicMetallurgy.com)

Who would have ever thought that Motley could make a great record while lacking one of its original members? This go around, it’s bad-boy drummer Tommy Lee that’s gone AWOL and many fans might be disappointed in knowing that this has absolutely no effect on the sound of the band whatsoever. In contrast to the band’s sans-Neil “Motley Crue” record, this record displays one hundred percent of the sleazy, street-wizened Motley attitude that fans have come to expect to date.

Raunchy Crue rockers like “Treat Me Like The Dog I Am” and single “Hell On High Heels” show that the Crue have not lost their capability for producing hard rocking songs rife with double entendres and oozing with that Sunset Strip vibe that made the band a household name to begin with. “New Tattoo” is quite similar to the more adventurous experimentation that the group embarked upon on their previous album, “Generation Swine”, the warm acoustic ballad being one of Motley’s best less-rocking numbers while fans will notice little difference between the sounds of “Dragstrip Superstar” in comparison to classic Crue. Mick Mars rips through a hot lead here, his playing as affluent as ever.

“Hollywood Ending” also does much to recall the feeling of songs such as “Without You” and “You’re All I Need”, coming off aurally as a cross between those two tracks with just a touch of Beatles influence thrown in to spice up the track’s immediately ear-catching chorus. Randy Castillo does a more than capable job of filling Lee’s substantial shoes. Long considered one of the hottest drummers around, his playing on “New Tattoo” shows his seasoned skills are firmly intact. A warm, thick production is provided by Mike Clink (Guns N’ Roses)

Topped off with a ultra-cool version of “White Punks On Dope”, “New Tattoo” shows that Motley Crue are aging gracefully, possessing as much musical bite as ever and accomplishing it all with their patented nihilistic mind-set.