#255/889
July 1 1985
X
Ain’t Love Grand
Genre: Rock
4.25 out of 5
Highlights:
Burning House of Love
My Goodness
What’s Wrong With Me
Wrong wrong wrong.
Dammit.
Look, I get it. At some point you wanna stop eating Ramen and you wanna cash some mailbox money. Especially after a half decade of being heralded as the best thing in rock. Or punk. Or both.
And maybe, just maybe, hiring metal producer (Stryper, Motley Crue, etc) Michael Wagener would do that trick. It was 1985, after all.
Instead, all the rawness that made them what they were (Billy Zoom SPECIFICALLY requested a drummer with a parade snare, man) is shoved to the side in favor of deep echo and a stadium sound.
Tons of these tracks would fit on More Fun or Wild Gift or even Black Sun. But instead, Wagener turns them into a stadium…neo-country rock band. That’s the best I can come up with. Because dammit, “Burning House of Love”, “My Goodness” “What’s Wrong With Me?”…these are great X tracks.
“Around My Heart” could’ve been a smash for Stevie Nicks or Emmylou Harris or someone.
Dammit.
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