DAVID LEE ROTH – Your Filthy Little Mouth [Friday Music digitally remastered]

This Friday Music remastered reissue of DAVID LEE ROTH‘s “Your Filthy Little Mouth” is perfect to re-discover this highly underrated album, requested by many here.
Dave’s 4th solo album definitely surprised to all. It certainly wasn’t aimed at receiving mainstream attention because it was immensely different from the grunge emerging from Seattle around the time of its release (1994).
However, it also wasn’t what people normally expected from Dave, and it definitely wasn’t what most people associate him with. Some of his fans expected him to remain loyal to his classic hard rock sound of Van Halen’s glory days, but Dave instead ventured himself into many diverse genres in “Your Filthy Little Mouth”.

By this time, Diamond David no longer had a “real” band. Long gone were the days of Vai and Sheehan, and even poor Jason Becker was now gone, struck with Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Dave started writing and playing with guitarist Terry Kilgore, and utilized a lot of studio cats on these sessions. Kilgore’s playing — bluesy, stratty and tubey — was lightyears away from the futuristic sounds coming from Planet Vai.

The album skirts multiple genres, which earned Dave equal amounts of praise and derision. We all knew Dave had lots of different T-shirts in his drawer.
“She’s My Machine” is a groove rocker, mid-paced and sexy with Dave doing his best Van Halen impression. Other songs, such as “Big Train” explored the fast and speedy side of Dave’s boogie rock.
Deeper in, “Cheatin’ Heart Cafe” (an excellent duet with Travis Tritt) and “Hey You Never Know” hang on the outskirts of Nashville quite successfully.

More variation appear with the eclectic urban sounds of “No Big ‘Ting” and “You’re Breathin’ It”, then “Your Filthy Little Mouth”, the title track, quickens the pace back to where we started. It is a strong rocker with some of Dave’s patented fun and cool lyricism.
The album ends on a slower note — Willie Nelson’s “Night Life” (previously covered by Thin Lizzy) and a track called “Sunburn” which recalls ‘Coconut Grove’ from Roth’s first EP.

Many people criticized Roth for not delivering a pure hard rock album here, but the man wanted to explore new things, and with the musical climate at the moment, he did what he wanted. And I like it.
Lyrically, Dave was at the top of his game, spinning fun and witty lyrics like never before or since in his entire career. Only Dave could sing, “I got a steel-wheeled radial prophylactic for you, and I ain’t afraid to use it now.”
All over the album, you will find double and triple entendre as well as Dave’s personal philosophy of life. Are you a passenger, or an engineer? “Whatever gets you to the end of the line”. “Take the traveller and the tourist — the essential difference is, the traveller don’t know where he’s going, and the tourist don’t know where he is!”

When the album flopped, Dave disappeared for a few years and went to Vegas. By 1998 he had snapped up talented guitarist John5 and put together the awesome DLR Band which could rival Van Halen in chops and aggression.
“Your Filthy Little Mouth” stands as an interesting detour on Dave’s road of life, an artist not limited to any genre, and while some tracks here are not what you are expecting from him, this is a very strong album.
Very good, ‘airy’ remastering by Friday Music.
Highly Recommended

01 – She’s My Machine
02 – Everybody’s Got The Monkey
03 – Big Train
04 – Experience
05 – A Little Luck
06 – Cheatin’ Heart Cafe
07 – Hey, You Never Know
08 – No Big `Ting
09 – You’re Breathin’ It
10 – Your Filthy Little Mouth
11 – Land’s Edge
12 – Night Life
13 – Sunburn
14 – You’re Breathin’ It (Urban NYC Mix)

David Lee Roth: Lead Vocals
Travis Tritt: Co-Lead Vocals on “Cheatin’ Heart Cafe”
Terry Kilgore: Guitars
John Regan: Bass
Tony Beard, Larry Aberman, Ray Brinker: Drums
Steve Hunter: Guitar on “A Little Luck”
Richard Hilton: Keyboards

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www.amazon.com/Your-Filthy-Little-Mouth-David/dp/B000NIIUQU