I’m a child of the 80s. And no, I’m not one of those Gen-Xers who’d have you believe it was all ace. It wasn’t. I grew up in Thatcher’s Britain.
But it did give me some incredible music. Just not the stuff you’d see on “Top Of The Pops”.
Once I’d burned through Bon Jovi, Skid Row and Poison, I went looking elsewhere. Faster Pussycat. Vain. Bands that lived in the cracks — sleazier, darker, more dangerous. Less gloss, more grime.
And that’s exactly where The Erotics sit.
Hailing from Albany, New York, they don’t play dress-up with this sound — they inhabit it. “Just What The Devil Ordered” feels lived-in, like it’s been dragged through back alleys and spat back out under flickering neon.
“Necro City” sets the tone perfectly. Wednesday 13 would adore this. If Vain had ever truly fallen in love with the dead, they’d have loved this too. It’s theatrical without becoming cartoonish, macabre but still stupidly enjoyable.
“Horns Hold My Halo” is sleaze at full throttle. Filthy, swaggering, and twice as much fun as it has any right to be. And the solo? Man — it’s always the solos. Always. That’s how you spot sleaze. No irony. No winking. Just attitude and six strings doing the work.
Any discussion of this album has to nod towards The Dogs D’Amour — still the best of the best. “Nightmares Or Lullabies” doesn’t just sound like Tyla J. Pallas, there’s some of his lyrical flourish in there too.
“Just Another Thing” sounds like it’s aimed at someone who seriously needs to sort their life out, while “Forever Trapped In Nowhere” finds the band stranded on earth and dreaming of escape. They get it through the music — and so can you.
“Sweet Beautiful Lies” stretches itself out a little, but “Enemies” snaps straight back into trouble-seeking mode, fists up and looking for it.
These bands were frustrated troubadours though — hell, even L.A. Guns had “Ballad Of Jayne” — and “Just What The Devil Ordered” finishes with “11 Dead Roses”, an acoustic beauty which sees Trash finally find the one, which is lovely considering it sounds like he’d been looking for her on a stripper’s pole for most of it.
So get this, get sleazy and dance with the devil. He always had the best tunes anyway.
RATING: 8.5/10
