REVIEWS:
Warrant are now probably one of the most hated bands of the 80s 'glam metal' scene, but in my opinion they are also one of the most misunderstood bands ever, as the peak of their career came in their post Cherry Pie work, which was very much ignored. They started out as a sleazy, horny, chick-driven good time L.A. rock outfit led by vocalist and principal songwriter Jani Lane, who had one of the more accomplished voices around that time. Their debut album, Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich, was undoubtedly cheezy and maybe a bit overly commercial, but it still had addictive, stellar, catchy melodies and powerful riffs to back things up. Their even bigger sophomore release Cherry Pie was a little lower on substance and songwriting effectiveness, but was still a good effort, even if the embarassing title track blighted the album and their reputation somewhat.
It was Dog Eat Dog, though, where the band really came into their own with a heavier, more attitude-laden and at the same time more creative sound, showing the amazing effectiveness of their potential, and encompassing everything great about hard rock. But with the grunge scene in full force at this point in their career, that album stiffed commercially. Their comeback effort released three years later, Ultraphobic, which had a heavier and edgier sound, didn't fare any better in the mainstream but was yet another solid effort. They then went for a more intriguing, and noticeably more 'alternative', sound with Belly To Belly, Volume 1, which fared even worse but was still a good effort.
What's bothersome and extremely frustrating about these guys in the light of their more effective later work, though, is that they still have a huge adherence to their first two albums, which many consider awfully cheezy and dated, which is true to some extent. But yet they hardly stand behind their later work, which has considerably more creative depth and power to it, and would probably be heavily accepted if they were debut albums from any other band. Three hits compilations (including a latest reworking of almost all early stuff called Latest And Greatest), plus a live effort that also focuses heavily on DRFSR and Cherry Pie material proves my point more than enough.
--Nick Karn
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
Warrant's debut album is one of the better good time party records you'll ever hear, as most of the tracks can boast fantastically engaging melodies, huge energetic choruses, great riffs, and the like. Sure, the lyrics are typical sleazy nonsense, but all other aspects (including Jani Lane's vocal ability) are convincing here, so it's easy to overlook that. It's also not entirely true that Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich is composed of four strong singles and the rest of the songs mere filler. In some cases, like on the stomping, energetic, catchy and downright entertaining "Big Talk", the riff driven "So Damn Pretty (Should Be Against The Law)" (a phenomenal speedster) and the irresistible groove of the verse sections of "In The Sticks", the non-hit songs are every bit as good as the ones that made the charts.
As far as the singles go, "Heaven" and "Sometimes She Cries" are among the more sincere, less overwrought ballads in the late 80s, especially the former, where affecting lyrical emotion (centering around a parent and a young child) is clearly felt, driven by a beautiful melody and acoustic work, and the latter features expressive guitar textures and a powerful chorus. The other two hits, meanwhile, were the great uptempo sing-along "Down Boys" and the hilariously tongue in cheek title track, which has a great focus on a typical 'rock star' attitude. Rounding out the album are it's opener "32 Pennies", which is fairly melodic, and the last couple lesser tracks "Ridin' High" and "Cold Sweat", which are pure filler, although still enjoyable in their own right. If it's creative songwriting you're looking for, this isn't really the place to start, but if you're looking for a great time with enough catchy tunes to sing along to, it doesn't get much better than this.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
Warrant's second album opens with an unbearably corny, despicable "We Will Rock You"-like hit sing-along title track which immediately caused me to mistakenly write the album and band off, and in addition to that song, the material generally isn't as catchy and the riffs aren't as memorable as before. This time around there are a few two many generic rockers, like the Van Halen-ish "Sure Feels Good To Me", the insubstantial fillers "You're The Only Hell Your Mama Ever Raised", the almost unlistenable "Love In Stereo", and the quite pointless cover of "Train, Train" (I don't know who did the original, and I frankly don't care).
However, the rest of the songs are good highlights that are sometimes as enjoyable as the debut album's best cuts. "I Saw Red" and "Song And Dance Man" are other fine examples of Jani Lane's clearly developing songwriting talents, the former ballad putting forth convincing emotion about the aftermath of getting cheated on in a relationship with very gorgeous background music and melody to boot, and the former having a nice, dreamy atmosphere in the acoustic verses mixed with a rocking chorus.
"Blind Faith" is another good ballad done in acoustic mode, "Mr. Rainmaker" and "Bed Of Roses" are great rockers (the latter beats Bon Jovi at his own game), and "Uncle Tom's Cabin" has very provocative story-song lyrics with an intriguing, folky feel in the verses. Finally, the album (at least in the dirty version) closes with the hilarious "Ode To Tipper Gore", a near minute long sampling of the band shouting out expletives at various concerts, in protest of music censorship. This is a surprisingly good offering that proves a lot of my initial impressions wrong.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
For their third album, Warrant became somewhat heavier, serious and much less cheezy and generic. The straight ahead rock songs have a whole lot of substance, with compelling riffs and catchy usual melodic hooks that demand respect. Jani Lane has also taken a huge leap forward as a lyricist, getting much more thoughtful and insightful, and he leads the band through 12 mostly exceptional tracks that, simply put, encompass everything that was ever great about hard rock in the last 30 or so years. I bet you didn't think I'd be saying that about these guys, did you? Well, believe me, I once was a Warrant hater and it only took a couple listens through this record to convince me that these guys have some serious talent, and that this is their shining moment that, without a doubt, proves this.
"Machine Gun" opens the album with an absolute explosion, led by a fast, complex, and positively crunching riff. The energy on this one is phenomenal, especially on the smashing chorus. "Hole In My Wall" has such a cool hard-hitting groove, awesome talk box section and excellent chorus to further establish the momentum. Those two tracks, however, are eclipsed by what is in my opinion Warrant's finest moment, the brilliant political anthem "April 2031", which boasts a distinctive apocalyptic riff, really bleak lyrics about the future and mankind in general in the mysterious sounding verse section, a mind-blowing chorus, and a feel that perfectly matches it. The song simply blows my mind - I can't believe no one ever mentions it as a rock classic.
The introspective ballad "Andy Warhol Was Right" also sounds like some serious social statement about a 'boy with his toy gun', and it boasts some serious heartwrenching emotion, with the string arrangements perfectly suiting the song. Following is "Bonfire", a pulverizing Cherry Pie-like rocker that kicks the shit out of anything off that album in terms of energy and feeling, while "The Bitter Pill" closes the first half as another stunning piano ballad - my God, Jani Lane has some serious expressive feelings to get out, and boy, do they come through in the song's melody and his performance... plus the middle section here works wonders.
The second half begins with the party rocker "Hollywood (So Far So Good)" which is catchy and engaging but one of the few songs that doesn't create a very good impression. The heavy as hell "All My Bridges Are Burning", certainly does, coming through in 'made to be played loud' power with a powerful arena rock chorus and riff. Another ballad, "Quicksand", is another good bottom-heavy track, while "Let It Rain" has one of the most beautifully hopeless melodies I've ever heard, as it sounds like a breakup had taken place just minutes before the song was recorded. The guitar work here is really beautiful, and the bridge is magnificent. The last two tracks here include "Inside Out", a song which rips at your throat with serious intensity and heavily effective screams, while in contrast, the 'campfire' acoustic ballad "Sad Theresa" is a very pretty credit rolling closer. An extremely well conceived effort.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
After a three year hiatus which subsequently saw the band break up and then reform in the wake of the dominance of grunge, Warrant's comeback album has more of a focus on that particular 'grunge' sound, and it's the heaviest, most raw album of their career. The songs here very much succeed on intensity, but that great melodic strength hasn't disappeared from the band's arsenal. The opening "Undertow" is a fairly representative view of Ultraphobic's sound, resulting in a damn catchy combination of the best of Alice In Chains and Tool, while "Followed" is a nearly as effective journey into the same territory and "Family Picnic" is another major, bottom-ended highlight, which pushes itself in your face with its' riff, pounding ending section, eerie verse harmonies and dark lyrics.
The atmospheric "Sum Of One" never really gels together that well, but "Chamelon" has a really great chorus and guitar solo at the end. "Crawl Space" and "Live Inside Of You", meanwhile, are fantastically direct shorter numbers with more raw intensity, the latter having an outstanding chorus melody. The pleasantly melodic acoustic ballad "High" comes close to the Warrant sound of old, although it's well away from there. Even farther removed from that old sound is the strange, almost experimental sounding "Ride #2", which has a really challenging arrangement, and the title track sounds like a subpar Nirvana outtake with really bad lyrics as the weakest song here. It's made up for, though, in the closing acoustic "Stronger Now", which has pure melodic beauty in its' chorus and hook, and it's one of the band's best overall songs to close out the band's second best album.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
Without a doubt the strangest-sounding album in the Warrant catalog, Belly To Belly, Volume 1 is also their most uninspired effort. The main problem here is that many of the songs sound unfinished, as if they were written in 15 minutes and recorded in one take without much care as to how they'd turn out. Fitting into this category are "Coffee House", which starts out with lyrics that are quite intriguing in the beginning, but then declines with a weak chorus and an aimless jam, the half-baked hard hitters "Solid" and "Vertigo", the stripped down but directionless "Room With A View", the bored loungey closer "Nobody Else". There's also "A.Y.M.", an abysmal attempt at a Pearl Jam song with horribly half-baked Generation X shit passing as lyrics sung with absolutely no feeling or melody.
Despite its' often half-baked nature, though, Jani Lane's gift for a hook makes a few of these songs really shine through. "Letter To A Friend" has a really hopeful, addictive chorus and great lyrics, while "Indian Giver" is a fascinating foray into more Eastern music territory with a very intriguing chorus. "In The End" is a very strong, catchy opener, and "Feels Good" also has purposefully angsty lyrics like the aforementioned "A.Y.M.", but the chorus to that one is so infectious and the verse sections sound so airy and interesting, it doesn't matter. The first half closer "Falling Down" starts off lazy but picks up near the end, and "4 U" is a nice softer song to round out this somewhat uneven, but still not bad, album.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
As if two previous greatest hits collections and a live effort which relies on almost the same songs wasn't enough, Greatest And Latest is even further overkill in milking the same old "Cherry Pie" / "Heaven" / "Uncle Tom's Cabin" / "Down Boys" cow over and over again, this time showcasing the band giving their hits the re-recording treatment on account of the fact that they play these songs in a different fashion live now that their lineup has changed slightly. Even though it still heavily relies on material from their first two albums (only the weakest Dog Eat Dog track "Hollywood" is represented from their other three efforts), that could be forgiven if they made the reworked versions anything interesting - which they don't.
With the exception of "I Saw Red", which is given a much more intimate treatment, basically all the old stuff is inferior in a slower, more dreary, 'Jani Lane is losing his range' fashion than its' original counterpart. They do admittedly give the listener three new tracks in the catchy but forgettable "The Jones", the folky "Southern Comfort" and the hard-hitting "Bad Tattoo", but that's just a cheap ploy to get fans to buy this collection - not that these songs are awful, they just don't justify its' purchase. In all, though, despite its' unnecessary nature, Greatest And Latest isn't necessarily bad - the actual songs that these versions originated from were good to great (except "Cherry Pie", which is just as horrendous here as it was when I first heard it) - it's just only recommendable for die-hards.
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