Motley Crue - Dr. Feelgood

The 1980's was arguably the decade where the hair bands ruled, this was music that was intended to give you a great time, celebrate life, up all night and party every day, this was the decade that Van Halen started with a bang! Many bands rose to fame during this time, just as much for outrageous quotes and maybe the odd good song if you were lucky. Every week you could guarantee that the next self proclaimed 'biggest hottest band' would have an album for you to spend your readies on, the bigger the hair the bigger the sales, or so a saying once went! This was until 1991 struck and grunge killed all this music off, still lets not dwell on that.

Picture this for a minute, its 1989, its a hot sunny day, and guess what? The new 'Motley Crue' album has hit the shelves. Celebrations prevail as this is the baddest band of the 80's right! The 'Crue' were one of the most outrageous bands out there, the tales are stuff of legend, drug and alcohol binges, overdoses, prison sentences, major tours and platinum album sales. Having said that did the Crue ever release a killer album from start to finish? 'Shout At The Devil' was close, but subsequent albums tended to lack something for the most part. 1988 saw the band clean up, get master producer Bob Rock in, and generally set out to record the album they had always promised, this promise became 'Dr Feelgood' which appeared in 1989.

First impressions of 'Dr Feelgood' are that it is certainly a step forward in terms of production, arrangements and interesting sound bytes; there's 'T.N.T (Terror 'n Tinseltown', a collage of street-wise sounds (sirens, skidding tyres etc.); the back porch acoustics that ease into the Aero-souled 'Slice Of Your Pie'; the big band stabs and honky tonk touches on 'Rattlenake Shake', generally plenty to prick the ear for.... but is it any good??

Well the first two proper tracks (not including T.N.T.) I could deal with straight off. 'Dr Feelgood' is a Crue classic with a chorus that drips into the bloodstream, its bubblegum chewed up and spat out into the gutter, but still tasting sweet. Then 'Slice Of Your Pie' which is slower and sleazier, it crawls to a close like an over-stuffed snake.

Its easy to say that the Crue - Vince Neil (Vocals), Mick Mars (Guitar), Tommy Lee (Drums) and Nikki Sixx (Bass) - haven't broken any boundaries with this their fifth album at the time; that 'Rattlesnake Shake' is not the most original song title of all time, or that 'She Goes Down' boldy goes where every band and roadie has been before, but... I've played this album many times and its clear that 'Dr Feelgood' does indeed see the Motley boys on a bit of a roll; partly by taking the things they do best - good time commercial Rock - and doing it even better, and partly by, if not breaking any musical boundaries, then at least nudging them a bit.

'Without You' is a ballad that bares its feeling to a brazen degree; 'Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)' is like a cross between Rod Stewarts 'Maggie May' and Kiss' 'Hard Luck Woman'; while 'Time For Change' is a flag waving anthem that grabs the emotions, as well as being an apt title for the line up changes that happened 3 years later.

As for the more typical terrorisin' Crue stuff, well that's bang on cue. 'Rattlesnake Shake' and 'Sticky Sweet' (which has a quite delicious mid/solo section breakdown) are prime heavy rock with grooves wide enough to drive a bus through. 'Kickstart My Heart' has a riff that revs like a nuclear powered moped as well as an unstoppable sway to go with it. 'She Goes Down' is all feel and tongue firmly in cheek flash, this album is generally Metal designed to skim across the surface, rather than sink like lead.

OK so Vince's vocals wouldn't win any contests, but it does sound like a damn good banshee screech! Mick Mars is playing 'his ass off' (to quote Ritchie Blackmore) while the rhythm section of Lee and Sixx is the tightest its ever been, generally this album saw the boys triumph in the musical stakes.

In short this is a damn fine slice of Motley Crue, while it doesn't always have the energy that was displayed throughout 'Shout At The Devil', 'Dr Feelgood' is still a fine place to start if you wish to check out Motley Crue. Several of the tracks here are up their with the bands best (Dr Feelgood, Rattlesnake Shake, and Time For Change), the production is superb and all in all its a fine effort, heck there's even some 'star' guests on the album - Steven Tyler, the Skid Row boys and Jack Blades. Now what exactly did happen with 'Generation Swine'.......

RATINGS
Production : 9.0 Songs : 8.5 Lyrics : 6.0 Performance : 8.0

OVERALL :7.8

Review by Andy Craven
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