V/A “Babblin’ On And On – A Tribute To Faster Pussycat”

I’ve always thought that FASTER PUSSYCAT was one of the best (if not the best) bands of the 80s Hollywood glam/sleaze scene so a tribute album can only be well-deserved in my book. Rocketman Records and Blame It On Mom Music joined forces to offer us this Italian tribute the the kings of sleaze rock’n’roll in loving memory of DJ/Promoter Mauro “Boyler” Mazzoli. LESTER GREENOWSKI opens with a punked-up version of “Bathroom Wall” followed by “Ship Rolls In” with a heavy rock touch by JOHN DALLAS. TURBOCOOPERS‘ choice goes to newer FASTER PUSSYCAT with the sleaze-industrial tune “Sex Drugs & Rock’n’Roll” while VAIN VIPERS get back to the early rock’n’roll days with “City Has No Heart.” NERVOUS NICK‘s version of “Please Dear” is a good gutter rock one with whisky fueled vocals, The LOYAL CHEATERS teamed up with ADAM BOMB to play “Poison Ivy” in a killer PRINCESS PANG way, SUPERSONIC DEUCES kept the disillusioned vibe of “No Room For Emotion” until they turn it into Scandinavian punk’n’roll and Italian princes of sleaze CRACKHOUSE directly walked to “Smash Alley” with a couple of Jack Daniels bottles under their arms. VINN BORAWSKI offers us a cool version of the unreleased “Lied Your Way To Heaven” and ARMED VENUS take us back to the early 90s when FASTER PUSSYCAT was changing but still sounded cool with “Non Stop To Nowhere”. Disc 2 opens with the legendary TEMPORAL SLUTS rockin’ to “Slip Of The Tongue” followed by The HORNETS and a bluesy DOGS D’AMOUR style version of “Shooting You Down” before another Italian legend, HOLLYWOOD KILLERZ offer us the anthemic “Don’t Change That Song”. Newer industrial glam stuff again with “The Power and The Glory Hole” by JUNKIE DILDOZ (you wouldn’t expect a different song choice with such a name, would you?) before the famous BEASTIE BOYS inspired “Babylon” by The BROKENDOLLS. STARVING MONSTERS revamp “Where There’s a Whp There’s a Way”, LIZI AND THE KIDS gives “Tattoo” an interesting heavy modern powerpop vibe and ROOZALEPRES underline the funk rock side of “Bottle In Front Of Me”. Of course, you’ll find “Cathouse” here played raw by RECKLESS and the mega hit “House Of Pain” covered by NICK SERRAVALLE bringing MEAT LOAF to mind. Some of these bands stayed true to the original versions, others gave more of their identity into the songs but in the end there’s no bad covers on here and this is a really cool tribute album! /Laurent C.