|
Mötley
Crüe is back and ready to rock your
umlauts
Crüe
• The four original members of
Mötley Crüe have recently reunited
and are touring this year in support of
their greatest hits album, "Red, White
& Crüe." Universal Music
By
Austin Lewis
Daily Forty-Niner
News Editor
Mötley
Crüe is back. The band's four original
members — singer Vince Neil, guitarist
Mick Mars, bassist Nikki Sixx and drummer
Tommy Lee — have reunited after being
apart for more than six years.
Mötley
Crüe formed in the early 1980s and
gained popularity at the start of what would
later be known as the glam metal era.
The
Crüe is infamous for their excess and
recklessness, and incidents such as Sixx
nearly dying from a heroin overdose in 1989
were not uncommon throughout the band's
history.
The
band reunited at the Hollywood Palladium
this past December and announced plans for
a world tour and a greatest hits release.
The tour began Monday in Puerto Rico and
continues with a show in Fort Lauderdale,
Fla. tonight.
The
Crüe will be in Southern California
next month, playing in San Diego on March
22 and in Los Angeles on March 23. The band
plans to visit Latin America and Europe
in May and June, and will return to the
United States for a second leg of shows
in August and September.
The
band is touring in support of their new
greatest hits album, "Red, White &
Crüe," which was released earlier
this month by Universal. The two-CD collection
covers the band's entire career and contains
three new songs, including the current single,
"If I Die Tomorrow," six alternate
versions of songs, and more than 25 Crüe
classics.
"Red,
White & Crüe" is much more
complete than other Mötley Crüe
greatest hits albums that have been released
over the last several years, and is therefore
a great compilation for fans
old
and new.
It contains enough rare tracks to please
longtime Mötley Crüe fans, but
it is also packed with enough hits to hold
the interest of casual fans who are only
slightly familiar with the band.
While
this collection primarily focuses on songs
from the band's original lineup, the inclusion
of songs from Mötley Crüe's self-titled
album and "Quaternary" EP —
with John Corabi on lead vocals instead
of Neil — is a nice touch.
Some
of the band's most famous anthems are the
title tracks from "Shout At The Devil,"
"Girls, Girls, Girls" and "Dr.
Feelgood," all of which are included
on "Red, White &"Crüe."
Other well-known songs, such as their cover
of Brownville Station's "Smokin' In
The Boys' Room," round out the compilation.
Two
other covers on""Red, White &"Crüe"
also stand out. Perhaps the most fascinating
is their new recording of "Street Fighting
Man"; the Crüe's fresh arrangement
breathes new life into the Rolling Stones'
1966 classic. "Red, White &"Crüe"
also includes a cover of The Beatles "Helter
Skelter", which was originally released
on Mötley Crüe's "Shout At
The Devil." While this cover isn't
as impressive as "Street Fighting Man,"
it's still a great addition to the compilation.
The
liner notes included with "Red, White
&"Crüe" deserve their
own mention because they're more detailed
than the information typically included
with greatest hits albums. The set includes
biographical liner notes written by David
Wild from'Rolling Stone, as well as song
credits that include catalog numbers and
original release dates — even for
singles and other releases that have long
been out of print.
The
new tracks included on this release show
that unlike most other musical acts from
the 1980s, this band is still relevant today.
After over 20 years and selling 40 million
albums, Mötley Crüe is rocking
as hard as ever.
|
