PRESS GUIDE

[published]: 2016, September 28
[in]: Keeps Me Alive
[article]: 'Welcome to the Club' album review
[by]: Aaron

The Beam Me Up Scotty's Series, Part 17/25 (LP)

This one takes me back. I grew up on Vices, and I'm pretty sure I had it on cassette as a kid, not sure where that is now. Scotty had this LP at $15, so I texted James to see if that was fair, he said it seemed to be. I ended up getting it for $10, so right frickin' on.

Welcome To The Club has some Honeymoon Suite in its veins, but it rocks heavier and the vocals have more edge to them. I love this sort of stuff, takes me right back to the 80s! Feels Good, Don't Stop bangs its way through an odd intro lots of banging and breaking glass, then unfolds into a bluesy rocker complete with backing vocals and girls laughing. Oddly, it's like they figured out how to add things to tracks and added a few too many. I mean, the baby at the end? And the sound quality on that track sounds a bit like a wet paper bag, but hey, it's pure metal rock fun otherwise.

It's ballad time! Comin' After You is all soft and lovey... haha not! Rock surprise! Nice. Kind of reminds me of Rock You Like A Hurricane, and that's a good thing. Make Your Move is pure single material. The sound is great here, and it's all Mötley, sweaty and bluesy and full of bombast. Loved it. Alright, now it's bluesy ballad time. Never Let Go is proof positive that this dude can SING. Love the guitar solo too, wowzers. Really pretty song with all the right elements in all the right places. Hellraisers lets arpeggios bring us back up into full-on metal rockin' hells yes! He's really going for it on the vocals here. It's got the breakdown section, everything rules. Great track.

Can't Take It With You is slinky rock with big sound all over. Another one built for radio! Then we blast right frickin' off into Too Loud... Too Old which, by its title, you can guess is another big rocker swingin' for the fences. The bottom end is huge, the guitar solo slays, and it's just a damn great rockin' time. Feel The Power has some crowd noise pasted into the intro, but the track itself sounds studio. You can hear they added the Big Room effect to it, and then it goes away at points, but it's all good. Yet another rocker – this band is full of them and, like the rest, I can totally dig this one.

And finally, it's a cover of With A Little Help From My Friends, which is pretty damn good. It's basically note-perfect to the Joe Cocker version (🙂) but the singer sounds like he has a bit of a cold – there's a nasal stop to it. Ah well. Never mind, there was a little vocal help on this one: Rik Emmett, Alfie Zappacosta, Lee Aaron, John Albani, Andy Curran, Sharon Alton, Cindy Valentine, Brian Allen, Ava Cherry, Paris, Bob Segarini, and Cameron Hawkins. Right on, it's a big swishy version that does the Beatles proud.

In Sum:

Zapping me right back to 1985, Kick Axe nailed it, with this record. There were a few sound issues, and maybe a few little forgiveable missteps along the way, but at its heart this record is great fuckin' metal and make no mistake. One of my favourite scores from this trip!

Yes! \m/ \m/