WARRANT – Greatest & Latest (2016)

Deadline / Cleopatra Records are reissuing in 2016 WARRANT‘s “Greatest & Latest“, the album featuring new recorded studio versions of their (Greatest) material, plus 3 previously unreleased (Latest) new songs. This is a re-packaging (new artwork and tracklist) of the version appeared years ago.

This is not a compilation but Warrant’s best bits in the shape of re-recorded new versions. They wanted to re-make the whole thing because they did not have the rights of the original tapes.
Overall, the sound on these new takes are heavier than before, more ‘edgy’ but still melodic. Additionally, some are quite different.
Songs like ‘Cherry Pie’, ‘Down Boys’ or ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ sound pretty much the same, just in a harder way than the the pop-metal sheen they had before.
On the other hand, ‘Sometimes She Cries’ and ‘Heaven’ as example, have been pretty much re-arranged. Sure, I prefer the originals to all of these songs, but it’s cool to have these in this new form.

The three new songs are very good and are worth the CD themselves. ‘The Jones’ is a melodic rocker with lots of classic Warrant harmony vocals and a stinging guitar all over.
“Southern Comfort” is a midtempo tune with acoustics in the mix in the ‘Sometimes She Cries’ vein, and ‘Bad Tattoo’ is a bass pumped bad-ass hard rocker with a groove similar to the Dog Eat Dog era.

When we speak about classic songs, we all prefer the original versions. But that’s not the point for Warrant on ‘Greatest & Latest’. They wanted to have control of their material, put the imprint on how the band sounded at that time, and present 3 new songs.
I still press play on the original versions / albums, but the new featured here are good as well when you want a different spin coming out of the speakers.
Rocks.

01 – Cherry Pie (re-recorded)
02 – The Jones [new track] *
03 – Down Boys (re-recorded)
04 – Southern Comfort [new track] *
05 – Hollywood (So Far, So Good) (re-recorded)
06 – Uncle Tom’s Cabin (re-recorded)
07 – Sometimes She Cries (re-recorded)
08 – 32 Pennies (re-recorded)
09 – Heaven (re-recorded)
10 – Thin Disguise (re-recorded)
11 – I Saw Red (re-recorded)
12 – Bad Tattoo [new track] *

Jani Lane – Lead vocals, acoustic guitar, keyboards
Erik Turner – Guitar
Rick Steier – Guitar
Jerry Dixon – Bass
Bobby Borg – Drums (for the new songs)
additional personnel:
Danny Wagner – Keyboards, backing vocals
Mitch Dynamite (a.k.a. Jani Lane) – Drums

BUY IT !
www.amazon.de/Greatest-Latest-Warrant/dp/B018TDA1VM
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