BOX SET REVIEW: ROCK N’ ROLL REBELS & THE SUNSET STRIP Vol 1

Shane | 29 April 2015 | 1 Reply

BOX SET REVIEW: ROCK N’ ROLL REBELS & THE SUNSET STRIP Vol 1
Eonian Records
10 April, 2015
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
9 ½ /10

For every Arena-sized Van Halen, Guns n’ Roses or Poison, there’s hundreds of bands who – blame bad luck, unaligned stars, being in the wrong place at the wrong time – who were just as worthy but didn’t attain such dizzying heights of even a Bulletboys, House Of Lords or Salty Dog.

You can take your choice of a thousand reasons why Pretty Boy Floyd or Nitro got signed instead of many of the bands on this lovingly curated four-disc box set – and no doubt everyone will have their favourites. What matters most is that Eonian Records have spared no expense in remastering and assembling these 72 tracks – 2 each from 36 bands who may have rarely been heard outside of The Strip.

Many of these bands never escaped the trawl of local bars, never released a record – and even if they did, in the pre-internet days an independent single or demo cassette often never reached far from home.

Eonian Records have dug deep for this impressive four disc package, unearthing gems from a rampaging horde of big-haired also-rans that prowled the famously seedy Sunset Strip of Los Angeles in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.

For those who partied on the Strip in those days when rock n’ roll was king, this box will bring back memories of days of glory and excess – and probably some memories that might make you blush today.

For those of us in far-flung parts of the world who never had the pleasure, most of these bands are new (you should already be familiar with Blackboard Jungle and Hollywood Rose, while Shake City, Charlemagne and Charlotte have received broader Eonian releases in recent years), and it is a visceral thrill to hear what all the fuss was about – and to marvel incredulously at why some of these bands didn’t score the golden prize: a major label record deal. Certainly the likes of JohnnyX’s The Wild, Hans Naughty, Hap Hazzard, all-girl outfit Hardly Dangerous, The Mimes, Sam Mann & The Apes’ David Lee Roth-alike schtick and Deaf, Dumb & Blonde were at least as good as some of the mid-level players who toured internationally on their success.

With 36 bands showcasing two songs each over four discs, ROCK N’ ROLL REBELS & THE SUNSET STRIP is a ridiculously bountiful treasure trove of riches from the third wave of the golden era of the Sunset Strip. In addition to the bands already mentioned, Dallas Dollz, Rough Justice, Cold Shot, Spyder Blue, Lypswitch, Scratch, Longgone and Bad Blood are solid gold guaranteed to get feet tapping, heads banging, and long-gone hair lines and waistlines reminisced about.

The enclosed booklet features extensive liner notes, a bio and photos of every band, and a sleaze-filled essay reminiscing on those hedonistic times by Johnny X (The Wild) and Adam Gifford (Paradise). If you only buy one album this year, ROCK N’ ROLL REBELS & THE SUNSET STRIP should be the one: less a compilation and more a history lesson of the underbelly of The Strip, ROCK N’ ROLL REBELS & THE SUNSET STRIP encapsulates all the fun, danger and excitement of Sunset Strip rock n’ roll.

Click HERE for our feature interview with members of The Wild, Lypswitch, Hans Naughty and Dallas Dollz.

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