Dirty Looks – The Worst Of Dirty Looks
THE WORST OF DIRTY LOOKS
Released 2009 (Sticky Records)
Track List:
01. Blue Tequila
02. Falling Down
03. Fool For You
04. Point Of View
05. Trip The Light (Fantastic Love)
06. Nobody Rides For Free (Live)
07. One Bad Leg
08. Let It Rain
09. Five Easy Pieces
10. This Way
11. Not The Way You Rock (Live)
12. Liquid Crush
13. Dude, Where’s The Money
14. Back To Marseille
15. #*%^ You, I Want More
16. Violence In Blue
17. Speed Queen
18. Cool From The Wire (Live)
19. In Black & White
20. Oh Ruby (Live)
21. The Last Forever
Band:
Henrik Ostergaard – vocals and guitar
Paul Lidel – guitar
Chris Caffery – guitar
Jack Pyers – bass
Brian Perry – bass
Dave Narro – bass
Keith Barrows – bass
Jim Chartley – bass
Gene Barnett – drums
Jimmy Harris – drums
Cary Devore – drums
Steve McConnel – drums
Paul Dulley – drums
Production:
Compiled by Jimi “Jaymz” Balduf. Remastered by Trevor Huster.
Review:
By calling a release the ‘worst of’ no one can really bitch if it doesn’t live up to expectations. In the case of Dirty Looks‘ first ever best-of release, the results are mixed. I’m not blaming the band though because this looks like a classic case of a group being unable to get record label permission to release their own music.
Some of Dirty Looks most popular songs, such as “Oh Ruby”, “Cool From the Wire” and “Nobody Rides For Free”, are included here, but as live tracks. That’s not such a big deal because the live versions sound good, but someone being introduced to Dirty Looks through this greatest hits package would have been better served with the classic recordings. One other thing that I noticed was that the booklet only contains lyrics to the band’s independently released songs. Add those observations to the fact that this was originally slated to be a double CD collection and it just screams major label interference.
It’s too bad really, because a collection of Dirty Looks‘ greatest tracks would go down as a must have…the band has been THAT good over the years. As it is, The Worst Of Dirty Looks is a great collection of hard rock masterpieces, but not quite the caliber of release that Henrik Ostergaard and company truly deserve. There are a lot of killer songs included here, and I was happy to see ones from little known albums such as One Bad Leg and Rip It Out included. Also, kicking off the entire affair with “Blue Tequila”, one of my favorite Dirty Looks songs, was a stroke of genius. However, missing are songs from the band’s last three studio CDs and their early independent albums.
For hardcore fans, The Worst Of Dirty Looks is a letdown because we know it could have been so much better. There has to be some gems leftover in Dirty Looks‘ vaults during their long and storied career, but nothing is found here. How cool would it have been to get treated to some of the scrapped Beau Hill produced Turn of the Screw songs, alternate takes, or a couple of the independent tracks to promote their recent re-release? The most disappointing thing about this CD isn’t what is on it, but what was left off.
dirtylooksmusic.com – www.myspace.com/dirtylooksmusic – www.stickyrecordsonline.com
Reviewed by Skid for Sleaze Roxx, April 2010.
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