Beautiful Creatures – Beautiful Creatures
BEAUTIFUL CREATURES
BEAUTIFUL CREATURES
Released on August 16, 2001 (Warner Bros.)
Track List:
01. 1 A.M.
02. Wasted
03. Step Back
04. Ride
05. Wish
06. Kick Out
07. Blacklist
08. Kickin For Days
09. Time And Time Again
10. Goin Off
11. New Orleans
12. I Got It All
13. 1 A.M. (acoustic **Japanese release only**)
14. Get Up (**Japanese release only**)
Band Members:
Joe LeSte – vocals
DJ Ashba – guitar and backing vocals
Anthony Focx – guitar and backing vocals
Kenny Kweens – bass and backing vocals
Glen Sobel – drums and backing vocals
Additional Musicians:
Ed Roth – keyboards
Production:
Produced and mixed by Sean Beavin.
Co-produced by Jeff Blue.
Review:
It is unbelievable to me that this album wasn’t a MASSIVE hit. Don’t get me wrong, it did quite well, but considering the music that came out at the time this album should’ve been #1 for at least a year! Is that because this album is that good or because the music of 1999 and 2000 was that bad? The answer? BOTH!
This album has it all. A hair metal “in your face” style mixed with the few encouraging modern elements. There are a few things I dislike about the album but considering all the things I do like about it, the few I don’t shouldn’t overshadow them.
But let’s start out with the negatives as oddly they are the first 2 songs on the album. What’s wrong with them? Well, they’re entirely too modern. The rap influence in these songs is entirely too strong and makes me click the “skip” button really quickly whenever I give this disc a spin which is more often than you think.
As a matter of fact, I would say my CD skip button usually presses straight to track five as this is where things really heat up. Track 5 is a song called “Wish”. It’s the closest thing to a ballad on this album and it really is very well done. Fantastic guitar work and the vocals of Joe LeSte really fit this style of song.
“Kick Out” kicks ass. It’s a real hard rocker that truly takes all the elements of hair metal and mixes them with a modern feel that really feels so right in this day and age.
“Kickin For Days”, “Blacklist”, and “Time And Time Again” are all really good songs as well for the same reasons mentioned above.
The final songs of the disc are the ones that should have gotten a lot of air play if the music industry were run in a way where good music got played. I mean, if the new U2 album gets played in insanely heavy rotation with the random and raw (not in a good way) feel that thing has, these next two songs should be permanent fixtures on any hard rock channel. “Goin’ Off” kicks so much ass I think it left a bruise. This is the ultimate in your face hard rock song. As for “I Got It All”, AC/DC should take note! Its rock ‘n’ roll the way God intended!
Overall, I must say when I first heard this album, I was a little turned off by the first few songs, but I quickly learned to love the rest of the album. The incredibly crisp sound with fantastic production quality and even better musicianship really make me think this album should have, if the music industry were fair, been the 2000’s equivalent of Guns N’ Roses Appetite For Destruction. It is that definitive of a hard rock album. With a lull in modern trends, an album like this should be looked at to be a trend setter. It is that damn good!
Reviewed by James for Sleaze Roxx, April 2005
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