Friday, June 15, 2007

Motley Crue-Too fast for love, 1982

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I think that I heard this and "Shout at the devil" around the same time. I probably prefer this album by a hair, but it's close. I think this album is more influenced by 1970's glam than any of their other albums. It has more of a groove to it and honestly I find it to fairly varied as far as the kind of songs that are contained on this album. "Live Wire" comes on strong and doesn't let up and Vince's vocals were a different style for the time. "Come on and Dance" is next and this seems to be a song that I have always liked more than most people. It's more upbeat and lively, but I love the drum sound here. "Public Enemy #1" is another highlight for Vince and he makes the most of it. "Merry-go-round" works with it's odd tempo and slightly downbeat feel. "Take Me to the Top" may not be as original in it's sound as other songs here, but it has a lot of energy behind it. The guitar tone and the pace for "Piece of Your Action" help to set it apart. "Starry Eyes" is probably my favorite track here and I like just everything about it. "Too Fast for Love" is a fun song with a great chorus and cool main riff. "On With the Show" is probably the best choice for a closer as the band really has a good handle on building up and maintaining the momentum of the song. I think this album came at a good time for the band and for the scene. Hard rock and metal were gaining popularity, but I think a band like this who were kind of fun and hard driving appealed to a lot of fans. The album sounds a bit under produced for the most part, but that works just fine because it gives it a more unique sound. Even though Mick Mars was never the most accomplished guitarist in the world, he still came up with some interesting guitar tones here. Tommy Lee is just amazing and Nikki Sixx does enough to keep up. It has also aged very well unlike something like "Theater of pain" which came out three years later. This is also the only Crue album where I don't skip past any songs because all of them are good. Even "Shout at the devil" although most of it is great, I can't often listen to all of "Danger". Motley Crue were still young, hungry and had some fairly inventive ideas here and it shows. Certainly one of the best hard rock albums of it's decade.

13 Comments:

Blogger aXe mAn said...

I couldn't agree with you more Metal Mark! "Too Fast For Love" is on of the great albums of the 80's!
And it was the beginning for one of the biggest bands to come out of that era. My favorite song on it has to be "Live Wire". But, it is a very good, all-around album.
Very good review. Nice job!

8:32 PM  
Blogger David Amulet said...

Great review. Once in the late 80s I spent hours--yes, hours--listening to "Merry Go Round" over and over and over. I still can't remember why.

-- david

4:32 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mark

I agree with you on Come on and Dance...that was always my favorite track on the album. It's just a great riff that doesn't get a lot of attention. I think you are pretty dead on about it standing the test of time...my friends and I were so excited when Theatre of Pain came out and now there are like two songs on the whole thing that I even bother to listen to anymore, "Save Our Souls" and "Raise Your Hands To Rock"...whereas I still pull out Too Fast For Love and crank the whole thing...

5:26 AM  
Blogger bob_vinyl said...

I tend to like Shout at the Devil more, probably because that's the one that I heard first and they are close in quality. I don't generally wonder why Too Fast for Love didn't have a whole string of singles like I do with Shout at the Devil though. It is kind of amazing that they really became huge after these first two when they were releasing sub-par material. The first two MC albums were exciting. In retrospect, it was a lot of mindless, fake rebellion, but so much of rock is that way. Not every band can be the Who or the Clash. That being said, MC were one of the best bands of their era on their first two albums and largely mediocre after that.

6:45 AM  
Blogger Metal Mark said...

axe man-Thanks.

David-I would think listening to that song over and over could drive you insane.

Robert-I still listen to Too fast for love and Shout at the devil fairly often but rarely do I listen to any of their others.

Bob-Of course the rebellion was fake, but only teenagers would buy into it. The music was good and fun for the first two albums. After that it's very hit and miss. It is amazing how big they were after 1984. The next three albums were so huge yet only Dr. Feelgood is worth much and it's merely pretty good. I remember liking the self titled album when it came out, but have not heard it in years.

I remember playing Too fast for love in college (early 90's) around some guys who claimed to like the Crue. Yet none of them had ever heard the whole album before. I was surprised by that.

8:39 AM  
Blogger Hard Rock Hideout said...

I couldn't agree with you more Mark!

Too Fast For Love is one of the Crue's best discs. I think it may have been surpassed only by Shout at the Devil.

Rob Rockitt
Hard Rock Hideout
www.hardrockhideout.com

8:49 AM  
Blogger DPTH International said...

I never heard Too Fast for Love, just Shout at the devil and Dr. Feelgood. That said, if it is as good as Shout ... i'll have to check it out.

9:44 AM  
Blogger Allyson said...

First, how can you skip through "Danger?"

That's my favorite Motley Crue song, and I think it has a unique quality that's hard to pinpoint.

My favorite song on TFFL is "Merry Go Round," and on the remastered version I like the original introduction version of the album's title track.

Allyson
www.bringbackglam.com

2:08 PM  
Blogger captain corky said...

Great review man. I wonder what would have happened if they all didn't get so screwed up with drugs and big breasted broads...

2:55 PM  
Blogger Metal Mark said...

hard rock hideout-They are both very good albums and both have held up rather nicely.

dpth-It's a little different from Shout at the devil, but the same kind of quality.

Alysson-Danger has always bored me since the first time I heard it. Not much energy there.
I agree about the intro for Too fast for love. They should have left it in. It reminds of 70's style glam and it would have fit nicely with the rest of the album.

Captain Corky-Exactly, I think so many bands have had the quality of their music limited by drugs and booze.

7:44 PM  
Blogger Ray Van Horn, Jr. said...

Lotta memories when I got this back in the day on vinyl. I like how even the neo-punks today flock to this album and how punks in general took to Too Fast for Love. It does have a subliminal punk shtick beneath the LA sleaze metal thing. Either way, it's definitely a great album.

8:04 PM  
Blogger earlcapps said...

This and Shout at the Devil were their two best albums. This one was recorded when they were hungry to make it, filled with guts, passion and raw energy.

Motley Crue was a great example of a band that let success go to their heads and ruin a good thing. But at least they gave us two really good albums before they went downhill.

9:19 AM  
Blogger Metal Mark said...

Ray-It still holds up well.

Earl-They also let drugs and booze run their lives. Even worse was that the albums they did while all messed up were some of their more commercially successful releases. Go figure.

10:56 AM  

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