BMG is releasing The Atlantic Years box set that celebrates the first five albums by Ratt. These are the albums that chronicled their meteoric rise to become one of the biggest arena rock bands of the eighties. The five LP set has been remastered and pressed on 180g vinyl. Also included is the ‘Nobody Rides For Free’ single, a replica tour book, bumper sticker, wanted poster, guitar pick, and a replica backstage pass. If you are a fan of the band this is going to be a must.
From this scene, the first band I got into was Motley Crüe, and then I discovered Ratt. As someone who grew up in the time when these albums were being released, I decided to dive back into the first five albums and review them all… doing so brought back the memories of the impact these songs had on my life by providing a soundtrack to my pre-teen years. The question I always have when digging back past is …how have these songs stood the test of time? …well, that is what I am about to answer.
Out Of The Cellar
The album that put Ratt on the map. The iconic cover features Tawny Kitaen. The formula that works best for this band is the simmering tension that made them darker than the Bon Jovi’s of the time. Warren DeMartini was the Eddie Van Halen in waiting for this scene but overlooked due to the spandex-clad bravado that caused music critics at the time to not take this sort of thing seriously. Ratt displays they are capable songwriters, who are more metallic than most of their peers.
For an MTV-friendly single ‘Round and Round’ packed a punch on top of being catchy as hell. With songs like ‘In Your Direction,’ it was obvious these guys had more in common with The Scorpions than most hair metal bands who were more heavily influenced by Cheap Trick or Aerosmith. There is also a slight ‘Looks that Kill’ feel to the riff of ‘In Your Direction’ which I wonder if it was a nudge from the studio.
‘Lack of Communication’ is a really strong song with lots of drive and one of Stephen Pearcy‘s better vocal performances. Listening back to him, what he lacks in pipes and power, he makes up for with nuanced phrasing. ‘Back For More’ is another one of the album’s best tracks, that blends hard rock heft with a catchy melody. The key to reviewing these kinds of albums is wiping the nostalgia from your ears and honestly weighing how relevant they are today. This album solidifies them as a legit band for this era, even if it not quite a stone-cold classic like Shout at the Devil.
8 / 10
Invasion of Your Privacy
Out of the Cellar might have put Ratt on the map, but this is a superior album, despite having a more streamlined arena rock sound and working off a distinct formula. The iconic ‘Lay it Down’ is a better song than ‘Round and Round’ if we are weighing singles, though what makes this a better album is even the filler like ‘Give It All’ is a stronger composition than some of the main courses on Out of the Cellar. The production of the guitars, and a warmer more organic sound than what was popular when this album was made, would find the album sitting even prettier than it does.
The only song that does not hold up under scrutiny is ‘What You Give is What You Get’. When this album was first released in 1985 I played the hell out of it, but under my full-grown critical adult ears, it is clearly bogged down by the tropes of the time. That said, these are the tropes that play to their favor elsewhere – ‘Got Me on the Line’ finds their metal refined to a pop level and is the definitive sound for eighties rock.
Songs like ‘You Should Know By Now’ that cross over into a more rock territory paved the way for Cinderella and Guns n’ Roses as much as, if not more than, Crüe did. Not perfect, but absolutely one of this legendary band’s best.
9 / 10
Dancing Undercover
Another one of the classic Beau Hill-produced albums, Ratt took what worked on the first two and pumped it up with more energy with a key difference being the guitars and vocals are way up front, with the drums sitting behind them. The overall feel of the songs is more uptempo.
There are some interesting grooves that intersect various sections of songs. Pearcy’s voice has more grit and slithers around the riffs in a manner that separated him from what his peers were doing in 1986.
This album finds the band reigning at the pinnacle of hair metal’s first wave. It still had life in the genre, up until Skid Row‘s debut which would be the last great album of its kind. ‘Body Talk’ is a punchy anthem with more forward momentum than most music like this.
‘Looking For Love’ kind of veers toward the mainstream appeal this music fully possessed at the time, ‘Take a Chance’ finds the charm of the band’s attitude winning you over with the more Rolling Stones-like strum of guitar makes the last song stand out, and gives Pearcy’s vocals room to breathe. Chorus is catchy and it’s pretty much what you want from a Ratt song, without recycling the key elements in a predictable way.
The energy, production and songwriting are all dialed in making this the band’s best album and a bone-fide genre classic.
10 / 10
Reach for the Sky
Upon its release, I was turned off by ‘Way Cool Jr’. It moved away from even the commercial brand of metal-lite into a rock n’ roll sound with things like horns and blues guitar on it. By 1988 my interests shifted toward Slayer and King Diamond in any case, as Ratt moved in the opposite direction. Something just did not sit well with me on this one. My instincts were right, as the band began recording this with Mike Stone, and the record label sent in old faithful Beau Hill to fix things. This makes me wonder where the original Mike Stone tapes are.
Listening back, ‘Way Cool Jr’ is better than I remembered, but the rest of the album sounds like they were trying to reheat leftovers. There is a little more edge on ‘Bite the Hand that Feeds’, but overall this feels like a happier rock album than classic Ratt.
They steered away from the power ballad formula until ‘I Want to Love You Tonight’ which is still not as cheesy as some of the power ballads from this era, but the clean guitar tones are much different on this album. ‘Chain Reaction’ sounds like it’s leftover from Dancing Undercover though more streamlined. There is more cock in their rock on ‘What I’m After’ which meanders in the middle of the road. This album is better than I remember and not the drastic departure it seemed to be on its release but is not a band at the peak of their powers.
7 / 10
Buy the Boxed-Set here:
WIL CIFER