L.A. Guns
Tales From The Strip

October 2006
Released: 2005, Mascot Records/Border Music
Rating: 4.0/5
Reviewer: Anders Sandvall

Even though the glam/sleaze genre didn’t work really well during the first half of the 90’s, L.A. Guns continued releasing albums. I thought the first albums were really great when they came out, but after a few years I lost my interest in them.



Many members have come and gone, and the founder Tracii Guns can now be found in Brides of Destruction. Lead singer Phil Lewis sounds like he always has, and the years haven’t taken a toll on his voice. Even though Stacey Blades isn’t as skilled as Tracii Guns on guitar, he does a great job; it can’t be easy to replace a personality like Mr. Guns.



To make it easy on yourself you can put L.A.Guns into the glam/sleaze genre, but I think they are also influenced by punk, hard rock, and rock ‘n roll, so I think they play some kind of wonderful mix of all those genres.



This album tells tales from the famous Sunset Strip in L.A., and most of the 14 tracks are a punch in the nose except for the ballads “Electric Neon Sunset”, “Vampire”, and “(Can’t Give You) Anything Better than Love”. There are also two strictly instrumental songs that are bad, but except for that the album is clearly worth buying.



The album’s best songs are “It Don’t Mean Nothing”, “Gypsy Soul”, “Original Sin”, “Rox Baby Girl”, and “Resurrection”.



Unfortunately, producer Andy Johns didn’t create the production these guys need to sound their absolute best. I think he could have created a dirtier and rawer production, but at least both Phil Lewis and Stacey Lewis have enough room to deliver a good performance.



With this album L.A. Guns prove that they are still a band to count on. TALES FROM THE STRIP is an excellent album that shows that glam/sleaze is here to stay.



http://www.border.se