Disc in the Dirt – RATT Retrospective Part 2 (Feature)

In this feature, Disc in the Dirt, we look at the discographies of bands and rate their albums and discuss the critical responses to them.

Welcome to Part 2 of the Ratt discography. This covers the period from 1988’s Reach for the Sky to Infestation.  It does not include Collage or Rarities, but just the studio albums. Read Part 1 here: RATT Retrospective Part 1

Reach for the Sky (1988)

Though it sold well enough to achieve platinum status, Reach for the Sky was not as well-received commercially as earlier releases.

Reach for the Sky was the last Ratt album to be produced by Beau Hill. The band originally intended for the record to be produced entirely by Mike Stone. However, substandard DAT tape recordings of Stone‘s production efforts prompted Atlantic Records President Doug Morris to bring in Hill to assist Stone and salvage the album.  In retrospect, Hill should well have been retained by the band, as he got the best performances from them.  However, this was his swansong.

I actually dig this record a lot.  There is much to admire in the grooves, which do have all the key ingredients of the successful Ratt recipe.  The guitars of Crosby and DeMartini blaze away and Croucier‘s bass holds it down with Blotzer‘s animalistic drumming.  Pearcy sings like a man possessed and the classic lineup delivers yet another strong album.

The songs are vintage Ratt and I really warm to “City to City” and the brooding “I Wanna Love You Tonight“.  The album flows well and the production is the expected stellar effort by Hill.  The slide guitar work on the collection is pretty rad and overall the record rocks.

Andy Hinds of the AllMusic website commented that the record “wisely follows the same formula of the three records that preceded it, yielding some of the band’s best material”.  I wholeheartedly agree!

Rating : **** (/5)

Star Track – “No Surprise”

Detonator (1988)

Detonator was released on August 21, 1990 by Atlantic Records. This is the last album to feature guitarist Robbin Crosby and bassist Juan Croucier (until his return in 2012).

Though their previous album Reach for the Sky went platinum, it met with some criticism regarding the quality of their songs. In an attempt to regain the popularity, Ratt parted ways with long-time producer Beau Hill. Songwriter Desmond Child and his personal sound engineer Arthur Payson were hired as producers for the album.

Detonator is a letdown.  It sounds like a band running out of ideas, regardless of how much Child put into the recording.  Make no mistake, the album is not bad, it’s just that it doesn’t have the bite of earlier releases.  The mix doesn’t do it any favours, but that’s what you get when Beau Hill is prematurely let go.

Sputnik Music website sums it up best by stating that “Detonator did not blow people’s minds, but it did not blow entirely either.”

Rating : ** (/5)

Star Track – “Hard Time”

Ratt (1999)

1999 was a good year for me.  It was the year that saw the release of the fabulous tv show The West Wing and it was the time when I changed jobs and career, for the better.  1999 also ushered in new Ratt material with the release of the self-titled comeback album.  During the interim years since Detonator, Ratt had lost Robbin Crosby and Croucier too.  Crosby sadly died in 2002 from a heroin overdose and pneumonia with complications from AIDS.

This album is a welcome return to form.  The production is by Richie Zito, who produced other bands such as White Lion and Poison and it gives it a harder edge that suits the band to a tee.

The slide guitar from DeMartini and the whole rootsy vibe is fantastic.  It was like Ratt found their muse from the time spent apart and I rate this album as highly as Dancing Undercover.

AllMusic website gave the album a qualified thumbs-up.  The site concluded that “the music is the most mannered and mature the band has ever made, heavy on mid-tempo numbers.”  It really is an impressive collection of hard-rocking tunes, with more experimentation than expected from Ratt.

Top tunes include opener “Over the Edge“, “Dead Reckoning” and “It Ain’t Easy“.  The music is the sound of a cool band finding the freezer settings to make them even cooler.

Rating : **** (/5)

Star Track – “All the Way”

Infestation (2010)

As a potential bookend to their career, Infestation was a solid album.  It does feature the worst cover of their catalogue, but the songs are generally strong.

It was the only album to feature guitarist Carlos Cavazo, formerly of Quiet Riot, and the last to feature guitarist Warren DeMartini, bassist Robbie Crane and drummer Bobby Blotzer. Loud & Proud released it via Roadrunner Records, a then-sub-label of their longtime home Atlantic Records.

Cavazo was influential in the sound of this record.  There are double leads that were not heard since the early days and the speed of some of the songs is fast.  Lots of energy to this record.

Michael “Elvis” Baskette undertook production duties.  He has been responsible for some great albums, including Trivium‘s Silence in the Snow (my favourite album of theirs).  Stamped on this record is his influence. The sound is warm but crunchy and the songs are catchy too.  This is almost Ratt back to their best.   DeMartini plays at his best on this collection and Crane‘s bass sounds as punchy as Rocky Balboa at the end of Rocky IV.

Best songs include “Take Me Home” and “Eat Me Up Alive“.

If this is to be the last official Ratt album, then it is a fine epitaph.

Rating : **** (/5)

Star Track – “Last Call”

Final Thoughts

Ratt will always be one of the best bands coming out of the Eighties.  They were great musicians (even Blotzer had his moments) and Pearcy was a star.

Read Part 1 here: RATT Retrospective Part 1

BUY RATT albums: AMAZON.ca / AMAZON.com / AMAZON.co.uk

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Coxy

Also, find more of my CGCM reviews here: Coxy