CIRCUS OF POWER – Circus Of Power [Rock Candy Remastered +5]

Many of you have been asking for some old Rock Candy releases to complete collections, and here’s one that rocks great, CIRCUS OF POWER‘s self titled album fully remastered & reloaded including bonus tracks.
Back in the 80s the Los Angeles rock scene cultivated spandex, glam and big, huge hair, whilst in New York a far grittier aesthetic was being honed; one that would promote the hard working, hard living ethos of an inner city blighted by forgotten neighbourhoods. The perfect backdrop, in fact, for the low-down high volume rock ‘n roll of no-frills minimalists such as Raging Slab, Smashed Gladys, and… Circus Of Power.
COP, as they were commonly known amongst friends and fans, lived life on the edge; a trail blazing sound. Spotted by esteemed NYC-based producer Daniel Rey, they were snapped up, together with Raging Slab, by the giant RCA label, creating one of the strongest debut hard rock albums of the era.
Raw, edgy and extremely dangerous Circus Of Power’s debut album, originally released in 1989, is a seething guitar-fuelled temper tantrum that remains as powerful today as it was when first released.

While COP were instantly compared to Guns N’ Roses – same tattoo / street wise-leather and denim uniform – Circus Of Power’s debut has its own sound for sure. Lead singer Alex Mitchell sounds more like Ian Ashbury of The Cult than Axl Rose. And cut throat hard rock gems like ‘Motor’, ‘White Trash Queen’, ‘Backseat Mama’, ‘Machine’ and of course the most famous track here ‘Call Of The Wild’ alone let you know these guys had an authentic talent for manufacturing true spirited direct and no holds barred rock n’ roll.
With a hint of more mature compositional skills, the highlight track ‘Needles’ starts with piano and a more dramatic feel, but its the only time the band dips out of the traditional ‘hips swaggering’ rock feel that personifies the record. It’s also a welcome change (albeit slight) in sound from the rest of the proceedings.

Most people will be familiar with ‘Call Of The Wild’, it had a video that got significant MTV airplay (when music still mattered to them, remember the original Headbangers Ball?). So the song itself was their 15 min of fame, but as you can guess, there’s much more into this crackin’, rocking album.
If you enjoy stripped down, bar-band-with-a-bite, blues guitar derived, driving rock n roll, this album is for you. It rocks, hard, with attitude. Very good Rock Candy remaster including bonus tracks, two of them previously unreleased.
Highly Recommended

01 – Motor
02 – White Trash Queen
03 – Call Of The Wild
04 – Needles
05 – In The Wind
06 – Heart Attack
07 – Crazy
08 – Letters Home
09 – Backseat Mama
10 – Machine
11 – Turn Up the Jams (Bonus Track)
12 – Backseat Mama (Demo) (Bonus Track)
13 – Motor (Demo) (Bonus Track)
14 – In The Wind (Demo) (Bonus Track)
15 – Dreams Tonight (Demo) (Bonus Track)

Alex Mitchell – vocals
Ricky Beck Mahler – guitar
Gary Sunshine – bass, guitar, vocals
Ryan Maher – drums

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