Out of the Cellar

Ratt | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Atlantic / Wea
• ASIN: B000002IGP
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (75 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #60,383 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is the Definitive Ratt Album, February 12, 2004

By 

James Choma - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Out of the Cellar (Audio CD)

During our family's annual summer vacation, my cousin had found this tape on the beach after a huge beach July 4th party back in 1984, someone had left it behind. After a trade involving a frisbee and two packs of firecrackers, I took the tape back to the condo. After shaking the sand from the cassette and listening to the whole album, I came to the conclusion that I had come out on the winning side of the deal. I've since bought this on CD and still enjoy listening to it.

If you ever wanted to know what 80's pop/glam metal was all about, look no further than this album. This album was a massive hit and a big step forward from their Ratt EP, putting Ratt at the top of the metal heap of the early 80's. Some people have said "Detonator" or "Dancing Undercover" are the band's best albums...I disagree. While those albums are good, this is definitely their best. No question about it.

With this album, Ratt crafted a distinctive look and sound all their own. From the opening of "Wanted Man" to the last cord of "Scene of the Crime," you have an excellent album. Top notch prodution, the songwriting, the blazing Warren DeMartini guitar solos, they're all here and then some.

The biggest hit from this album is "Round and Round," followed by "Wanted Man," a great opening song for the album. You also get a reworking of "Back For More" from the Ratt EP, this version being a huge improvement over the first.

The only downside...yep...the hair band lable. Do not let that sway you. These guys were on the music scene prior to the blow-dried-no-talent-wannabes that left nothing but empty Aqua Net cans on the music scene.

If you have their greatest hits album and want more, get this, you won't be sorry. Enjoy -- and thanks for reading!

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quintessential 80's hard rock music from L.A.!, April 15, 2001

By 

Robert J. Schneider (Tacoma, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Out of the Cellar (Audio CD)

I was first introduced to Ratt on Friday Night Videos in 1984 when they first showed the video for "Round and Round." (You know, that really cool video with Milton Berle!) I liked the song immediately, and it didn't take more than the next 3 times I heard it to make me badly want to get the album "Out Of The Cellar." Just before I did, I had already heard the follow-up single "Back For More." ANOTHER killer track!! I bought the album, and it remained one of my most-played albums that year. The above two songs were my favorite, plus I also liked "You're In Trouble" and "Wanted Man". Sorry, but "Lack of Communication" never did it for me, I basically refer to it as "Lackluster Communication."

Ratt was a group that had a glam image, but were certainly not a bubblegum group by any means. They had a good, crunchy sound; more melodic than the Crue and no less talented. Ratt was also never one to ride on anybody's coattails. I've always found it interesting that as soon as they became big, they distanced themselves from other L.A.-based heavy metal bands. (You would have expected a young band like them to do the opposite.) First of all, they described themselves as hard rock, and they went out of their way to distance themselves from the "heavy metal" category. In fact, lead singer Stephen Pearcy STILL maintains that Ratt was not really a heavy metal band at all, just a regular hard rock band. Whether or not this would accurately describe their style of music I guess is a matter of personal taste, and is therefore subjective. In any case, I have always respected them for being very non-pretensious about themselves. Listen to their music and decide for yourself what they are. :)

I do agree very much with the earlier reviewer, who said that the real secret of this band was the rhythmic groove they provided, in the form of bassist Juan Croucier and drummer Bobby Blotzer (who was such a madman on drums, and probably one of the strongest drummers of his time). Of course, this is to take nothing away from Warren DeMartini's talent on lead guitar: I've always admired his fluid, effortless style of playing. Robin Crosby played a steady rhythm guitar, and occasionally traded off some pretty mean leads with Warren DeMartini (like on "Round and Round"). Stephen Pearcy has always been a decent rock 'n' roll singer/screamer. Sure, he'll never be counted among the true greats (Plant, Halford, Dickinson), but how many hard rock singers can say that they've been doing this for 20 years the way Pearcy has?

After this album, Ratt would go on to record several others, each of them having at least 2 or 3 certifiable rock 'n' roll hits. Over time, they have amassed a pretty impressive collection of great songs...call them hard rock or heavy metal, one thing's for sure: Ratt have been, for the past 20 years, one of the most consistently good rock 'n' roll bands around. They are instantly recognizable without being repetitious. Ratt rocks!! :)

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Greatest Hair Metal CD Ever., April 16, 2004

By 

Offensive Donkey (Stupidsville, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Out of the Cellar (Audio CD)

If you want a cd that sums up hair metal in like 9 songs, this is the one. Every song you can just imagine being played in some Sunset Strip club. While many might say the title for greatest glam cd should go to The Crue's Shout at the Devil, or Poison's Look What The Cat Dragged In, this is actually better.
Every song has a catchy chorus worthy singing along to (just listen to Your'e In Trouble if ya doubt me) and conjours up images of spandex, makeup, and hairspray.