Stephen Pearcy: ‘View To A Thrill’
STEPHEN PEARCY
VIEW TO A THRILL
Released on November 9, 2018 (Frontiers Music Srl)
Review:
Sometimes, my expectations are low when it comes to an artist’s latest studio album while sometimes, they are high. In Ratt frontman Stephen Pearcy‘s case, my expectations are always high because he has taken part in some of my favorite albums of all-time, namely Ratt‘s Out Of The Cellar (1984) and Invasion Of Your Privacy (1985). In addition and more importantly, Pearcy has recently proven that he “still gots it” with the release of Ratt‘s Infestation album (2010) and his surprisingly very good solo album Smash (2017). Interestingly enough, unlike last year when Pearcy heavily promoted his new solo album Smash and was getting interviewed like crazy (you can read my interview with him), the singer has been extremely quiet even though his latest solo album View To A Thrill has been out for couple of weeks now. That is a bit of shame because View To A Thrill may end up falling through the cracks.
I readily admit that when I first heard View To A Thrill, I found it a bit disappointing given that the songs seemed kind of slow paced and at times heavy on keyboards. That being said, Pearcy‘s singing sounded good — he’s always sounded good on studio records — and there were some nice melodies on many songs. As I continued to listen to View To A Thrill for the purposes of this review, I was surprised to start to really enjoy the album. I found myself singing along to tracks that at first I thought sounded a bit wimpy or too slow paced. My high initial expectations for the album also stemmed from the release of the first two songs in advance of the album. “U Only Live Twice” and “I’m A Ratt” are two solid tracks that are best described as a hybrid of Ratt‘s mostly stellar material and Pearcy‘s solo material of varying quality. As it turns out, those two songs are among the best ones on View To A Thrill, which explains my initial disappointment when listening to the record as a whole.
This doesn’t happen too often as usually my first impression rules the day for me but I now enjoy just about every song on View To A Thrill even though I could hardly contain my disappointment when first listening to the record. As mentioned, the melodies on View To A Thrill save the day and are just too good to dismiss the album away. Take for instance the second song “Sky Falling” which at first, I found a bit repetitive and dull. Over time, I learned to appreciate the song due to the strong melodies. “Malibu” is another song that I initially didn’t like due to the heavy dose of keyboards on it but over time, the melodies took over and it’s another track that has grown on me. My favorites on View To A Thrill are the first two tracks that were released (“U Only Live Twice” and “I’m A Ratt”), the slightly faster paced “Double Shot” and the melody filled “Secrets To Tell.”
Although I have grown to like View To A Thrill, it does not measure up to the classic Ratt albums. Nevertheless, it’s a better than average album and shows that Pearcy still has a lot left in the tank. I wonder what the results would have been had Pearcy teamed up with Warren DeMartini in terms of the writing for some of these songs. Pearcy‘s solo bandmate Erik Ferentinos has proven to be a good complement for the Ratt singer writing wise but I think the songs on View To A Thrill had the potential to be even better.
Track List:
01. U Only Live Twice
02. Sky Falling
03. Malibu
04. One In A Million
05. Double Shot
06. Secrets To Tell
07. Not Killin’ Me
08. Dangerous Thing
09. I’m A Ratt
10. From The Inside
11. Violator
Band Members:
Stephen Pearcy – lead and backing vocals
Erik Ferentinos – rhythm and lead guitars, keyboards, backing vocals
Matt Thorne – bass, keyboards, backing vocals
Scott Coogan – drums
Additional Musicians:
Robby Krieger – slide solo guitar (7)
Kristi Adair – vocals (11)
Production:
Produced by Stephen Pearcy, Matt Thorne and Erik Ferentinos
Recorded, engineered, mixed and mastered by Matt Thorne and assisted by Stephen Pearcy and Erik Ferentinos
Executive producer: Stephen Pearcy
Band Websites:
Official Website
Facebook
Reviewed by Olivier for Sleaze Roxx, December 2018
Stephen Pearcy‘s “U Only Live Twice” song:
Stephen Pearcy – “U Only Live Twice” (Official Audio)
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Stephen Pearcy‘s “I’m A Ratt” song:
Stephen Pearcy – “I’m A Ratt” (Official Audio)
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