ROUGH CUTT – Wants You! [Rock Candy remastered]

Fronted by great shouter Paul Shortino, ROUGH CUTT never achieved the commercial success enjoyed by many other L.A. hard rock bands during the ’80s, but their two albums from the era are truly excellent. Rock Candy Records has ‘Remastered & Reloaded‘ both… now it’s time for second effort where Rough Cutt… “Wants You!”

For Rough Cutt their career was, in retrospect, all about missed opportunity. As one of the first L.A. based bands to excite the early ’80s scene, and signed to label behemoths Warner Brothers Records, they were expected to feed the flames of a growing interest in hard rock.
Their self-titled debut album was, in turn, feted and praised, but failed (despite being championed by Ronnie James Dio) to connect commercially, overtaken by fellow contenders such as Quiet Riot, Mötley Crüe and Dokken which enjoyed better support from their recording labels.

Despite the lack of proper support by WB Records, the band was ushered back into the studio to record a follow up album, “Rough Cutt Wants You!” issued in 1986.
It was a record of stylistic advancement, showcasing the band in a more mature light, something more befitting their real ability. According to times, it’s also more melodic hard oriented, more radio friendly.
Produced by one of the truly great ‘knob twiddle’ of the era Jack Douglas (Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, and Brighton Rock’s celebrated debut Young Wild & Free the same year), the sound is less abrasive and far more focused on catchiness than the debut, relying on great arrangements and sublime rhythms.

Tracks such as ‘Don’t Settle For Less’, ‘Double Trouble’, the killer ‘Bad Reputation’ and, especially the great ballad ‘The Night Cries Out (For You)’ finds Rough Cutt casting their net wider by introducing a sophistication beyond the regular meat ‘n potatoes that you might expect from such a hard rocking collective.

‘Let ‘Em Talk’ is perhaps the most catchy (and commercial) track ever written by the band, arranged with a lovely melodic rock sheen.
Of course you have opener ‘Rock The USA’ which now in perspective feels a bit cheesy but it was a true anthem for the band, same with ‘We Like It Loud’, some kind of an answer to Twisted Sister’s hit ‘I Wanna Rock’.
One of the most interesting tracks is ‘Hot N Heavy’, at first glance a simple rocker but in its middle section adds Latin percussion turning it very original.

Now, 2016, “Rough Cutt Wants You!” is turning 30… time flies, but this fresh remastering job makes it sound better than most of the current ‘digital’ productions.
Thank goodness for record labels like Rock Candy, because this album – and Rough Cutt’s debut – deserved a proper remaster, but essentially for being available again at a regular price.
Highly Recommended

01 – Rock The USA
02 – Bad Reputation
03 – Don’t Settle For Less
04 – Hot ‘N’ Heavy
05 – Take A Chance
06 – We Like It Loud
07 – Double Trouble
08 – You Wanna Be A Star
09 – Let ‘Em Talk
10 – The Night Cries Out (For You)

Paul Shortino – lead vocals
Amir Derakh – guitars, synthesizers
Chris Hager – guitars
Matt Thorr – bass
Dave Alford – drums, backing vocals

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