Larry Wallis is Rock ‘n’
Roll. Quite simply put he is the Hard
rock equivalent of Hank Marvin, along
with Jeff Beck (when the mood takes him),
the guv’nor of axe slingers. Like a top
mercenary Lazza has slung his weapon in
many places, including ‘Blodwyn Pig’,
‘U.F.O.’, ‘Wayne Kramer’, was the original
and easily the greatest guitarist with
‘Motorhead’ (listen to their debut album
‘On Parole’, it literally crushes skulls),
was a ‘Deviant’, a ‘Shagrat’, with Steve
Peregrin Took, and of course one of the
Pink Fairies, despite their name, Britain’s
favorite Biker Band.
Fifteen years we have waited for a new
Lazza release (not since the last true
Fairies album in 1987, the fabulous ‘Kill’em
and Eat’em’, have we heard the guitar
groove). If you like guitar driven power
trio, low down, dirty, sleazy Rawk and
Roll, with snarled vicious vocals, guitar
licks that kick you straight in the head,
guitar solos that make you realize why
guitars are called axes, a bass guitarist
that drives every song into your brain,
(every bass player should be called ‘Big
George’), a drummer who has never heard
the word subtle, you have a sense of humour
and like a good time, then this is the
album for you. Don’t expect anything politically
correct, you aren’t goner get it. ‘Meatman’
will have all the do-gooders reaching
for pen and paper writing to Dear Hillary
to be signed ‘Outraged of Tooting’. No
overdubs, no keyboards, no nonsense, just
good ole Rock ‘n’ Roll Party music. This
is the sort of thing Rock ‘n’ Roll was
invented for.
In the early seventies Lazza used to concentrate
on short sharp shocks of songs like ‘City
Kids’ or ‘Seeing Double’. The marvelous
hook choruses are still there, but with
a new maturity. Some of the songs are
allowed to develop into masterworks of
the electric guitar. This is perhaps best
shown in ‘I’m A Police Car’, a song first
released by Larry Wallis in 1977 in the
midst of Punk rock as a single on the
newly formed Stiff Label. Larry Wallis
was one of the star attractions on the
‘Stiff Live Stiffs’ tour that toured Britain
including ‘Wreckless Eric’, ‘Elvis Costello’,
‘Dave Edmunds’, ‘Nick Lowe’ and ‘Ian Dury
& the Blockheads’. Oh for a time machine!
On ‘Death In The Guitarfternoon’ in 2002,
Larry has gone back and completely refined
the song, gloriously stretching it out
to a full seven minutes, forty-four seconds.
Same song, same riff, just brought screaming
up to date. The Pink Fairies, Hawkwind,
and Mott the Hoople were probably the
only established bands that still had
street credibility when Punk rock arrived
on the scene, and that attitude still
holds true with Larry Wallis today. You
don’t even have to hear the songs to know
this is a potentially great album, just
look at the song titles and the cartoon
artwork. ‘How Do You Creep’ is a wonderful
Rant against old Fairy ‘Twink’, who has
made a career of re-playing one song time
and time again. ‘Dead Man Riding’ is a
guitar instrumental workout reflecting
ghost riders, and ‘Mrs Hippy Burning’
will have them jumpin’ in the aisles at
Tahitian Queens Rock ‘n’ Roll Happy Hour
on Fridays or any other day.
I shall leave you with Lazza’s final words
on the album cover, “This is my Band,
who can dish it out, gobble it up, and
deep fry the cook for good measure. These
men are not normal”.
Another album please soon.
For more information about
this amazing musician, please look up
his website at
www.pinkfairies.co.uk
Pawed by Mott The Dog
Remastered by Ella Crew
E-mail: review@mott-the-dog.com
