L.A. Guns – Hollywood Forever – 2012 Review
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
L.A. Guns – Hollywood Forever – 2012 Review
Yes L.A. Guns is back with a new CD. They sound better in my opinion then they did back in the 80s and that’s saying a lot coming from me since I love 80s metal
If you remember back in the 80′s L.A. Guns had such hit as the Ballad of Jane and Never Enough.
The new CD isn’t as gritty as some of their other songs in the past but still hold that 80′s metal sound for most of the songs.
The following was taken from Sleeze Rock, which is one of the greatest rock sites on the net. I would have wrote my own review but this i spot on how i feel about it as well.
Sleeze Rock Review: L.A. Guns
On Hollywood Forever Lewis and Riley reunited with producer Andy Johns – who worked with them on previous albums Waking The Dead, Rips The Covers Off and Tales From The Strip – and is best known for his work with Free, Humble Pie, Van Halen, Cinderella and Joe Satriani among others.
While not a bombastic sounding album by any means, the majority of effort was placed in crafting songs with big hooks and infectious melodies.Hollywood Forever continues in the tradition of L.A. Guns‘ post Man In The Moon material, where the sound is more contemporary hard rock than the classic sleaze that landed them on the map.
Phil Lewis‘ vocals sound great on Hollywood Forever, and kudos to guitarist Stacey Blades for his fantastic solos and memorable riffs — his effort helped this album tremendously.
Unfortunately for those of us that were hoping for L.A. Guns to look back on their roots, they didn’t on this album — not completely anyway. At this stage in their career it’s unlikely they ever will completely, so while their contemporaries are making ‘vintage’ sounding albums L.A. Guns continue to press forward and stay the course with the sound that they’ve been utilizing for over a decade.
There are glimpses of the sound of old, but with 14 tracks Hollywood Forever drags along at times — mainly with the mid-tempo stuff and the ballads. The strongest 10 songs would have sufficed, but by adding extras they increased the chance of filler.
The standouts on Hollywood Forever are the title track, which could have been taken from Hollywood Vampires, “Vine St. Shimey”, a vintage L.A. Guns effort that could have evolved from on the Cocked & Loaded sessions, “Venus Bomb”, a fast-paced and gritty track that will have you thinking of the band’s debut album, “Dirty Black Night”, which has a great riff, furious solo and a heavy groove to it, and “Queenie”, a bluesy rocker that works toLewis‘ strengths — it’s probably one of the best things L.A. Guns has done in the past decade.
There’s also an interesting cover of “Arana Negara”, originally done by the psychedelic rock band Bicicletas, that is completely done in Spanish.
While Hollywood Forever doesn’t knock it out of the park, it’s a very good record and I look forward to hearing Phil Lewis and company break in some of the exciting new songs.
L.A. Guns – My Own Thoughts
My favorite songs on this CD are Crazy Tango, Dirty Black Night, Underneath the Sun, Vine St. Shimmy and You Better Not Love Me.
So check out the latest from L.A. Guns you won’t be disappointed.
L.A. Guns – You Better Not Love Me (2012)
Click here to order L.A. Guns: Hollywood Forever
