Customer Reviews

Little Monsters

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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

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.

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.

Yes the original vinyl is better sounding...

Yes the cd can be adjusted via any decent EQ...

The music has held up over the years...it's awesome!

MAB guitar just rocks...I rate it higher than his Nitro

work...but that's great too...

now for my question...

I grew up in Chicago listening to "pirate radio" from Highland Park...

Run after 9 p.m. by ex-WMET jocks...I remember a so-called pre-listen of

a second Holland album...the track had some "witch doctor" element to it...

so Holland-ites...am I dreaming?...what ever happened to....etc etc...

Tommy Holland, are you out there?...I know you were in several bands after the

Holland years...someone find him and ask!...or if you KNOW...not GUESS...post something intelligent!

After reading the other reviews and listening to the samples, I'll have to agree with almost all of them. Even though the other reviews seem polarized, most of them can be reconciled in that it is a great album, but a poor job of transferring the original to CD.

Please note: The original album is one of my favorites ever, so I am biased.

So you know what you are getting yourself into, the album is very 80's hair rock/metal. Melodic and slightly edgy vocals, distorted guitars, and punchy reverb-drenched drums. The guitar work is phenomenal if you like blazing solos. Michael Angelo Batio can rip up the fretboard and has a great 80's guitar tone.

It is great to see the album is again available after being withheld from the public. For a while (and maybe still), Angelo re-released the album from what were apparently the original demos. It was good to have the songs available, but the production was a little lacking compared to the original (not Angelo's fault because he did good with the tracks that were available to him. He even covered a few songs with a different singer in his C4 band, and the production on that CD is phenomenal).

That being said, the production and mastering on the sample tracks are lacking just as much as the demo release, but in a different manner. If you have a basic understanding of the recording and production process, you can readily pinpoint the flaws in the mastering. Even if you don't understand CD production, it is likely you will get ear fatigue from listening to this CD. You may enjoy it for a bit, but after a while there will be something that grates on your hearing, which will make it difficult for all but the die-hard Holland fan to fully enjoy the CD.

(Like others, I have the original, and it is painful to listen to the sample tracks side-by-side with it).

That being said, Little Monsters gets five stars for content, minus one for poor production (that is generous only taking away one star because it is likely your ears will hurt after listening too much, but the content is good enough to warrant a four star rating). People who aren't fans of high gain guitars, rock vocals, and blazing solos may rate it less.

Let me begin my review with this fact: a Goolge search of the words "wounded, bird, records, terrible, & sound" will yield close to 100,000 link results. Having said that, I totally agree with the other reviewers here. I have this album on vinyl and wanted the cd for use in my car. The sound quality is just terrible. It literally sounds like the transfer was from an old 8-track tape. The terrible sound quality is not unique to this release however, many of the Wounded Bird cd releases suffer from the same sonic fate. From Thin Lizzy & Phil Lynott to Lenny White...many reviewers here on Amazon agree. If you do not have the vinyl lp, can deal with subpar sound and can get this cheap on ebay or zShops, do it. This music needs to be heard. Michael Angelo (Batio) can flat out rip on guitar. Too bad an outfit like "Rhino" can't step in and give many of these recordings the treatment they deserve.

This CD version of Little Monsters sucks big time. The packaging sucks and the sonic quality is that of an amatuer. I own the original record. It is awesome. This shlock label took a rock classic and turned it into a piece of junk. Every song on this disc is great but you would never know it given that this is one of the worst sounding CDs I have ever heard. EVER. Does Wounded Bird records know how to spell digital distortion let alone hear it? I don't think so. The original record is so great. What were they thinking? Members of the band Holland consider this an unautorized release and want nothing to do with it. It is a disgrace to this great classic rock band. And a PINK CD! Wounded Bird Records should be sued and shut down.

This sounds as though Wounded Bird dubbed this straight from the LP rather than the Master tape. You can even hear cracks and pops throught this CD. Very lousy and cheasy job on behalf of Wounded Bird Records.

This is a KICKASS album with killer songwriting, memorable melodic songs, amazing guitar work by Michael Angelo Batio, and Robert Plant-esque singing by one of rock's underrated singers: Tom Holland. The reason I give this 1985 classic only 1 star is because Wounded Bird Records did a VERY poor job in transferring and mixing it to CD. The sound is muffled and sounds like a homemade bootleg. It's not even remastered! The artwork (especially the back cover) is generic. The CD itself is PINK!

As for the songs...they SMOKE! If you're into 80's Dokken and Ratt then you'll dig this CD. It's very hook-laden stuff. This band from Chicago was way ahead of it's time. Why doesn't Atlantic Records (the label that originally released this album in 1985) release it onto CD with proper attention to remastering the sound and exact detail in artwork?