- advertisement -

Fans of '80s Hollywood (by way of the Bay Area) glamsters Jet Boy will be delighted to hear about the latest CD compilation of rarities from this underrated act. The fourth in the series of unreleased Jet Boy gems, One More For Rock n' Roll mostly covers their Damned nation period and beyond, collecting demos, rough mixes, outtakes, and unreleased tunes.

From their 1988 debut, we get a different version of the title track "Feel The Shake" and a re-mastered version of the poppy "Missing You." From Damned Nation we are treated to demos of "Heavy Chevy," "Rock n' Roller," and "Evil." We also get demos (some featuring a drum machine) of some of the last tracks the band cut before splitting up in the form of "Burnin' Down the Backroads," "Busted," and "Call Me A Stranger." In addition, there's acoustic versions "Bloody Hands & Poisoned Minds," "Live & Die In a Day," and a cool cover of KISS' "Hard Luck Woman." All rare, all good, all sure to please longtime fans.

So the real question is, what do learn from these rarities compilations that we hadn't garnered from the official two albums they released back in the day? And does anybody care. Well, the answer is a lot and yes.

First off, the first two Jet Boy comps Perris released were composed mainly of their pre-record deal demo days and prove that this band never really tapped into their magic on wax. The punky energy and New York Dolls-influenced trash was completely lost in their attempt to make a hit record and then band came off more like a third rate AC/DC than anything else. The Feel The Shake tracks here prove that some of that energy was actually captured on tape, it just didn't make it to the final cut. What One More For Rock N Roll proves is that much of the power of Damned Nation was also lost in the shuffle. Somehow the hard driving, hard rockin' vibe found on these demos ended up overproduced and under-whelming on the actual album – a typical problem for late-'80s L.A. band. In an effort to move some units and compete with the big, bag Gunners, they watered down their sound and tried to become more digestible. As someone that saw Jet Boy live back in their heyday I can assure you they were not a generic pop-metal band by any means.

As far as who really wants to hear this stuff now in 2002….well, you'd be surprised. Glam rock is practically non-existent these days and many folks are clamoring to hear unreleased stuff by some of the better (and worse) glam bands, especially from the '80s Sunset Strip era. Band like Jet Boy, Junkyard, Rock City Angels and Faster Pussycat have developed quite a cult following over the years so they might as well put this stuff out there for those of us who wanna relive our teased hair days. Plus, bassist Sam Yaffa from Hanoi Rocks (one of the best glam band EVER) was in the band so there's bound to be some Hanoi diehards that will this eat this up.

* * * 1/2