Altsounds - Motley Crue - Dr Feelgood Deluxe Edition (Re-Issue) [Album]

I went to see the Canvey Island Rhythm and Blues band Dr Feelgood, at Hartlepool Town Hall at about the same time that this album was originally released and a few days before Motley Crue embarked on the British leg of
their world tour. There was the usual Feelgood fans, mainly bikers in their late 20's, 30's, 40's [and older] dressed in suitably oily denim and leather jackets. Lee Brilleaux and Co had started when in burst a large contingent of young lads, dressed in Crue T-shirts and Spandex Strides, with hair to match. There was much amusement for the Bikers, and a lot of fairly embarrassed Crue fans. One ventured up to my friend and asked,
"What's this band called? Is this the support band?" My mate took a long swig of his pint and just told him that this in fact was Dr Feelgood! It would seem that these youngsters had decided that Motley Crue must be doing
a secret "warm up" gig under the pseudonym "Dr Feelgood." Oh well we can all make mistakes!

Anyway based on the above account you may think that I am not a fan of Motley Crue and you would be right! Indeed, during the late 80's I had an intense dislike of "cock rock". However, the years have rolled on, and I
am older, if not any wiser so I thought it was about time I revisited the band and see if my opinions had changed at all. When the chance to review this CD came up I grabbed it, if slightly tentatively.

What is on offer here is the deluxe edition of "Dr Feelgood" that comes as 2 CDs. CD 1 is the original album and CD 2 is a collection of demos and tracks from "Live Around The World 89-90". CD one kicks off with 'T. N. T. (Terror 'N Tinseltown)' a 42 second instrumental intro and it's straight into the title track 'Dr Feelgood'. The drums and bass open the song before the guitars join in with the main riff. The vocals are clear, and the guitar solo fits quite nicely in the last quarter of the song. 'Slice of Your Pie' starts of easily paced with acoustic and a bit of slide guitar before it becomes more riff based with mid tempo guitars and stomping drums. The lyrics appear sexist in the typical Motley Crue style but not necessarily in an offensive way. There's no explicit language either! The sexist lyrics continue, for the most part throughout the entire CD. However, 'Kickstart My Heart' does gives some respite as it is a "good time" song that is both upbeat and has a fun vibe to it. The main riff is simple, the rhythm section is tight and the lyrics are,
well, simple.

After all the aforementioned sexism and lively paced material it's time for a
ballad and it duly arrives in the form of 'Without You'. A love song that showcases that Vince Neil can sing a bit although when it comes to ballads he's no David Coverdale, thank god some might say! It is however a credible performance. Following on and the next couple of songs is more of the same really, and I'm starting to get a little bored with the same repetitive, riff based music. There's nothing special here and the rhythm section seems to just plod on through it and each guitar solo heard sounds just like the previous one.

As the album progresses so does the song titles. No guessing then what 'She Goes Down' is about? I guess I'm maybe a little bit too old for this sort of juvenile stuff now but, I suppose the lyrics might keep teenage boys amused for a while. Then just when I was thinking all was lost 'Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)' comes along as the penultimate song. Lyrically, it’s nothing to write home about, but the lyrical content is at least different and there is a neat guitar solo at about the halfway mark. Closing the first disk is 'Time for Change' which is presumptiously a song about change. Time to Change the CD I think!

To sum up CD 1 I would say that it consists of:

Juvenile lyrics,
similar sounding songs which seem to follow a formula, to be honest this has worked well for Motley Crue, but leaves me cold.

The best song is 'Without You' followed closely by 'Dr Feelgood,' and 'Time For Change.' I have to say that at this point I am not looking forward to CD2, but into the player it goes.....

The first three songs are all demos from the "Dr Feelgood" album and if truth be told, in my opinion the demos are better than the final versions that found their way to the official release. 'Dr Feelgood' is markedly different from the album version. The bass is higher up in the mix in the intro and there's an annoying clicky sound that ends up being the Kick drum and it is a truly horrible sound.

If they fixed that then it then it would be a much better version than the one on the album. 'Without You' and later on 'Time For Change' are again different and better versions but they suffer from the same overly clicky kick drum. The only demo on this CD not having the click is 'Kickstart My Heart/' 'Girls Girls Girls' is the first of four tracks from "Live Around The World 89-90" recordings. The sound is poor, although the vocals stand out the rest seems muffled. Could it be the venue? Could it be the engineers? Who cares? It sounds like a quality bootleg (in 1983 this would have been an excellent sounding bootleg), but to release it like this just seems like an afterthought by some record company executive. The up tempo mush continues through the next song too and I nearly stopped listening to it at this point.

Summing up CD 2 I would say:

some good studio stuff here,
some better than what was included in the original release

However, if you do have the original release or even the re-release on CD then there is little point buying this Deluxe Edition, unless of course you are a die hard Motley Crue fan. To be quite frank, although the studio demos are different, the live tracks are so poor it's not worth getting just for the sake of having them.

Have I seen the light and become a Motley Crue Fan? No!
Will I buy any of their releases? No!

Oh, as for the Motley Crue fans at Hartlepool town hall, well they didn't stay long, shame though as they might have learned something.