Little Monsters

Holland (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 19, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Wounded Bird Records
• ASIN: B0000B00HS
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #469,538 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Finally on cd! Thank You Wounded Bird!, April 17, 2005

By 

Pearly White "Pearly...~>" (Northwest USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Little Monsters (Audio CD)

I have been waiting to finally get this release, not only because it's an all-time classic, but also after reading all the negative commentary from reviewers here on Amazon.com. First off, let me just say in response to the review by "The Woj"...if you do a Google search for "Downers, Grove, bad, review" you get nearly 40,000 links to follow (a search for "The, Woj, terrible, review" garnered almost 1,000 too!), so I'm not really sure what this is suppose to prove exactly. Look, Holland's "Little Monsters" is a classic album that isn't in any way completely or even partially ruined by the somewhat lacklustre remastering job that Wounded Bird Records has done. You people all need to get something better to do than whine and complain about how things sound. If I'm not mistaken, this is part of what no doubt was the same bunch that were all crying about no one re-issuing this on cd. I had the LP too of course, and I remember getting scores of e-mails asking for me to "burn" or "rip" me a copy man! and hearing things like "I wish someone would get smart and re-issue this thing"...or even worse "I sold this and all my records when I got married to buy a killer dinette set!" (or even worse a Harley!-). Bottom line is that we should all be thanking Wounded Bird for taking the time and money to finally get this to all of us on compact disc. Yes, I'll admit it...the sound quality is a bit lacking, but so what! This is not a 24-bit remastering job from Columbia or Sony (the kind that only seem to get released in Japan!). Did any of you ever hear of an "equalizer"? You probably sold that after growing up too, right? I used mine to tweak the sound a little and it sounds great! Oh, and finally, as for the cd itself being pink, hmmmm...I think some people's manhood can get threatened by a few too many things. This is the most rediculous thing I've ever heard. "Ewww...the cd is pink" "Cooties!"...SO WHAT! GET A LIFE! If you had the original LP back in the day like you all claimed to, you'll remember that although the wax wasn't pink, a portion of the jacket artwork WAS PINK! Wounded Bird is just trying to follow the original color scheme as best they can. I think on a whole that this label does a great job with their re-issues. Nothing overly-fancy but still very nice! We owe them big time for this one too! Hey big, bad, former-rocker-turned-yuppy Hummer driving children of the 80's...BUCK UP! This one was re-issued just for you! How about skipping the letters of grievance to your congressman about Holland's "Little Monsters" re-issue and just enjoying the tunes like the good ol' days! 4/5

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great album, finally reissued - what's to complain about?, August 29, 2007

By 

Justin Gaines (Northern Virginia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Little Monsters (Audio CD)

Well, "Pearly" has already covered much of what I had intended to say about Wounded Bird's reissue of Holland's Little Monsters album, but I hate to see a good album marred by a bunch of narrow-minded reviews, so I'll add my two cents to try and balance out the rating a bit. Besides, I'm guessing the three consecutive 1-star reviews came from the same anonymous "music fan".

First off, Little Monsters is a flat out terrific melodic hard rock album that any child of the 80's should own. Michael Batio (who later changed his name to Michael Angelo and formed the band Nitro) is an extremely talented guitarist, and he just blazes away throughout this album. Tom Holland's vocals are strong as well. It's not quite a metal album, but it's not that far from one either, sounding like a harder and faster version of Journey and Foreigner.

Second, I have no problem at all with Wounded Bird's reissue of Little Monsters. I'm not one of those audiophile types, but I can't hear any defects in the sound quality at all. Besides, Wounded Bird plays a very specialized role in the market. They bring lost classics like this one back to store shelves, often for the very first time on CD. They don't do remastering or bonus tracks like Rhino, so you shouldn't expect that sort of thing. Just be glad someone finally put this great album out on CD.

And for crying out loud, are you really going to complain about the color of the disc? That's just sad.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the greatest, least known, hard rock albums of all time..., September 23, 2010

By 

One Truth (WI, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Little Monsters (MP3 Download)

We took every chance we could to see Holland play live when Little Monsters was a newly released album. They played regularly then, at the Brat Stop in Kenosha, WI (about a mile from where Michael Angelo Batio still lives now). The live shows were great, and we even ended up playing covers off the album in our own bands (Gotta Run & Keep it to Yourself were favorites).....good times.....

When the band fell apart (apparently related to the topic in track number 8 on the album), the world never got the chance to hear a follow-up, and instead, had to settle for MAB's guitar virtuoso work that he steadily published since then (mostly instrumental stuff, with great guitar work, as expected). However, nothing from MAB EVER approached the combination of sounds, song writing, melodies, personalities, and the PERFECT amount of his butt-kicking chord progressions and guitar tone along with blazing yet melodic solo's, as this Little Monsters album with Holland.

You do not know the true spectrum of hard rock history if you don't know about this album. There are songs on this album that EVERYONE must hear and appreciate.

In a way, it's similar to the old Van Halen albums (1 & 2), in that there are no filler tunes. Every song rocks, and begs to be played and replayed. I guess another similarity to old Van Halen is that, just as most real Van Halen fans always longed for them to return to that old VH I & II form with David Lee Roth, so too did Holland fans (long for a Holland reunion, and another album).

In fact, a few years ago, Holland DID reunite for a few shows in Wisconsin and Illinois (and maybe a few other places). We attended 2 of those shows out of respect for the music they created on Little Monsters.... They sounded great again, with the exception of the vocals from Tommy Holland. He didn't seem quite ready for it, or wasn't quite in "vocal shape" to perform as he once did (though it seemed that he probably could, if they prepared a little longer and worked up to it).

I don't think the rest of the band enjoyed that aspect of it, so it appeared that the tensions continued, and no more mentions of future shows or albums ever came about....

This album is your only chance to hear Holland.