CD REVIEW: LITTLE CAESAR – Eight

Shane | 18 April 2018 | Reply

CD REVIEW: LITTLE CAESAR – Eight
Golden Robot Records
March 2018
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
8 ½ /10

There was always more to Little Caesar than the cavalcade of late ‘80s/early ‘90s big-haired Gn’R and AC/DC copyists.

Sure, you don’t need CSI to dust for trace DNA of either band’s sound, but singer Ron Young’s love of soul power and amazing vocals ensure the band always rolled at least as much as they rocked and set them apart from the start.

There’s a sense of wisdom permeating this record, Young wished he was 21 Again, reflecting on Another Fine Mess because he listened to “the wrong head,” and finding him settling in Vegas because he’s “too stupid for New York, too ugly for Hollywood.”

Mama Tried brings some country picking to the rock and roll party, Crushed Velvet is as smooth and textured as its namesake, Time Enough For That features some organ that brings Deep Purple to mind, and Straight Shooter is a Springsteen-like blue collar workout which should be all over FM radio.

It hasn’t been an easy ride for Young and Co (he’s joined here by fellow original members, drummer Tom Morris and guitarist Loren Molinaire, and new boys Pharoah Barrett and Mark Tremalga) – a Hollywood career that was over before it began (check out Terminator 2), great albums which didn’t sell enough for their label to want to support them, and saying the wrong thing to those writing the cheques all added up to them remaining a cult band, but as Young sings in Morning, “is there anyone out there who knows what integrity means?” It’s a perfect lyric about a perfect stance to take, and Little Caesar have it in spades – it makes Eight a far more enjoyable listen to most of what’s out there.