CATS IN BOOTS – Kicked & Klawed [Rock Candy remastered] + 0dayrox extra

Requested by one of you, “Kicked & Klawed“, the one and only CATS IN BOOTS album appeared in 1989 for sure deserved a place on this blog via this stupendous Rock Candy Records remaster, and to make it better, we added an extra track, the original Japanese edition bonus.
The Cats In Boots story is the ultimate tale of late ’80s big haired rock ‘n’ roll excess. Based in Los Angeles and nudging shoulders with every Sunset Strip wannabe (including Quiet Riot, Rough Cutt, Motley Crue, and Dokken) Cats In Boots found a new path forward by developing a huge following in Japan that quickly manifested into a series of major record companies falling over themselves to get the band to sign on the dotted line.

It was EMI who won the day, lining their pockets with ready cash and a promise to make them stars. Put in the studio famed engineer Mark Opitz, the band crafted one of the era’s best, if ultimately overlooked, slices of prime time Hollywood sleaze grating hard rock.
The hooks were huge. The guitars cut and thrust. The production sounded like a million dollars and frontman Joel Ellis screamed and preened like he had been born to boogie. Fame would come-a-knockin’ double time… or so they thought.

When Cats In Boots released their “Kicked & Klawed” opus back in 1989 their was little doubt that they were gonna cut themselves a considerable slice of the glam pie.
Sure the competition for a spot in the major league of the hair metal division was stiff but the band had a couple of aces up their sleeves that put them above many of their contemporaries: half of the line-up was Japanese (unprecedented in the lily-white world of glam?), the buzz-saw guitar sound of Takashi ‘Jam’ O’Hashi that added an extra dose of sleaze to a sound that already dripped with attitude and street levelness and the impressive vocal range of singer Joel Ellis (who later joined Heavy Bones for another one off record).

Not surprisingly the album sold like hot cakes in Japan, but also in Europe and the UK it kicked up its share of dust with the videos for the track ‘Shot Gun Sally’ and ‘Her Monkey’ getting regular spins on MTV’s Headbangers Ball, rave reviews in metal rags like Kerrang! and Metal Forces and sales figures that secured them a spot in the import platter charts.
Amongst the disc’s prime cuts are single ‘Shot Gun Sally’, the up-tempo ‘Nine Lives’, ‘Her Monkey’, the speedy ‘Coast To Coast’, ‘Bad Boys Are Back’ and the catchy ‘Heaven On A Heartbeat’.

But Stateside things didn’t work out as planned and while the guys shared the opinion that the album only needed a little push to take off, their label thought it was time to cut another record. So instead of hitting the road opening up for Vince Neil and his bad boys, Cats In Boots were forced to stay in LA and to start thinking about new songs.
Needless to stay that second record never materialized mainly because of inner band turmoil and the feeling that Cats In Boots had walked its walk.
One can only wonder what might have surfaced if singer Joel Ellis and Jam had taken the band a chapter further. Personally I think the guys had it in them to come up with another killer release.

But as it is now their legacy consists of just one record… but what a record it is!
Two decades & half later “Kicked & Klawed” still sounds as good to these ears as it did when I first picked up upon release. Almost every song is a winner and that justifies the kind of praise it’s been given by glam and sleazy hard rock aficionados.
The overall sound of the band is raw, sleazy, energetic, revved up with the operative word being FUN and when listening to the disc you just know that these guys lived the rock ‘n roll life style 24 hours a day.

This Rock Candy remaster is punchy and bright, enhancing the rhythm section and coming up with clearer vocals.
HIGHLY Recommended

01 – Shot Gun Sally
02 – Nine Lives (Save Me)
03 – Her Monkey
04 – Whip It Out
05 – Long,Long Way From Home
06 – Coast To Coast
07 – Every Sunrise
08 – Evil Angel
09 – Bad Boys Are Back
10 – Judas Kiss
11 – Heaven On A Heartbeat

0dayrox extra:
12 – Tokyo Screamin’ [Japan edition bonus track]

Joel Ellis: lead vocals, harmonica
Takashi “Jam” O’Hashi: guitars, vocals
Yasuhiro Hatae: bass, vocals
Randy Meers: drums, vocals
Dave Amato: guest backing vocals

BUY IT
www.amazon.com/Kicked-Klawed-Collectors-Remastered-24-Bit/dp/B001SXZ7N8