Review:

on 2012-02-20 gutterseed Said:

I owned this album on cassette, 3 times. I broke it. I've heard it at original speed, and at faster speeds as the tape got thin. This was when auto-reverse was the big deal, and this album did not leave my cassette player for over 6 months. Whenever the tape broke, I would order a new one from Columbia House (remember them?). I also owned a copy of it on Vinyl (now I'm just dating myself.
The band had a hit from this album, most music buffs would know it as House of Pain. I love that song, I think it ranks right up there with "Home sweet Home" by Motley crue. The album is very bluesy. When compact discs became popular they added a song called "where there's a whip, there's a way". I am 99% sure that this song was the title track to Faster Pussycat's album "Whipped". I think the fact that it's on this album takes away from the great album it was. "Little Dove was a great opening song and set the stage for this classicly under-rated album.
The album does have it's upbeat tracks, "Poison Ivy", "Slip of the Tongue" and "Tattoo" are all great 80's style hair metal songs. "House of Pain" being a great ballad of how important a dad is in their son's life. I am a big fan of the blues, and this album is blues meets hair rock. The guitar work on "Please Dear" sounds just like slash from GNR. They must have been hanging out.
Over 20 years later, this album still get's play weekly. I can listen to it from start to finish, with the exception of "where there's a whip there's a way". Not to knock the song, it's a great tune, but it doesn't belong on this album. Thank god for itunes, I just moved it to the album "whipped".
I've read a lot of books about the hollywood scene in the 1980's and I can see these guys playing the whiskey, opening for Motley, hanging out the rainbow and the other Sunset strip clubs, mainly Seven Veil, because pussy seems to be very important to these guys. I'm not saying it's not important to me, but this is the only album put out by Pussycat that isn't pussy driven.
If you're looking for a bluesy, energetic, and an album you can listen to from start to finish, and you like the 80's, this album is a must own. If I could get it on cassette I would, the songs are so cohesive and tight, they sound good in their original arrangement, but there's also some nostaligia. You knew the tape was going to break when "Ain't no way around it" began to speed up. My order with Columbia was in when "Arizona Indian Doll"'s speed started sounding like Stevie Wonder was playing guitar. Harmonica, blues guitar scales, jazzy drumbeats, heartfelt lyrics, and the diverse tempo changes and song flow make this album one of my favorites. If you do happen to download it, I'd recommend saving your .99 cents and omitting "where there's a whip there's a way" to get the full experience of this album. The song clearly belongs on "whipped", and not this gem of an album. But overall, this album is outstanding, and one of those albums you could find in a used store for a penny. I'd still pay the 15 bucks for the full album. What a blessing to 80's hair metal. Too bad they had to live in the shadow of bands like Motley. This album rates right up there with Theater of Pain. it'd be interesting to know if those two bands hung out together on the Strip, and just whee Faster Pussycat played.
Rating: 10/10