Customer Reviews

Reach for the Sky

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Ratt's fifth release (fourth on major label), "Reach For the Sky," continues their swaggering style, their sleazy LA-style lyrics, and the Ratt sound forward through the end (*sniff*) of the 1980's. While some songs take a bit of a musical twist on typical Ratt stuff, this album is still distinctly, undeniably RATT in all of their glory.

Actually, I like the amount of sleaze in this release more than I do in their '85 album "Invasion of Your Privacy," and this album is neck-to-neck in competition with their 1986 "Dancing Undercover" for sexual inuendoes and lyrical sleaze. DeMartini's guitar also continues to blister, ingiting your stereo with "I Want a Woman," "Don't Bite the Hand That Feeds," and "City To City." "Chain Reaction" is fast, driving, and heavy, and "Bottom Line" is probably one of the best tracks on this album.

While I wouldn't recommend this CD to a beginner looking to experience Ratt, this IS a solid release, and established Ratt fans won't have a problem wearing out their stereos with this album.

For the Ratt experience, I recommend in this order: 1) "Out of the Cellar," 2) "Invasion of Your Privacy," 3) "Dancing Undercover", then 4) "Reach For the Sky." Their fifth major release, "Detonator," has its good moments, but doesn't stack up to their 80's releases.

By C.S.

Hair metal 1980's style is often criticized but filled a carloads of individuals who have little or no knowledge of the genre.
One of the bright spots on a seemingly mythical dark tale that is often told about 80's rock are the Los Angeles, California outfit known as Ratt.
With so much competition in the area - Motley Crue Dokken,and the already established Van Halen to choose from and to rock out to,it would seem impossible to gain a foothold of originality in this over- crowded marketplace.
With the cannonfire like drum beat and sound of Bobby Blotzer, the raspy and rough vocals of Stephen Pearcy, the dual guitar attack of Robbin Crosby (rhythm) and Warren De Martini (lead) combo and the penetratingly solid bass playing of Juan Crouchier (a former Dokken memeber),Ratt created a balanced metal sound .
The bass like tonation of Blotzer and Crouchier work in poisionous tandem with Crosby and De Marini on "Reach" and they strike a smooth balance - no one group of musicians overwhelm the other in the playing and recording process, making 'Reach For he Sky" a gem based on production alone.
Blotzer begins the assault with a funk -filled double bass-drum beat that fuels "City To City", while De Martini sprinkles the ingredients of wailing guitar riff on top of Pearchy's opening screams and Crosby's vicious co - lead on "I Want A Woman".
The next track "Way Cool Jr" is record company driven, elementary school pop all the way as a early resting point after the fast start created by the opening tracks..
The band step back into the club after a couple of drinks and set the tempo again with Blotzer opening up the floodgates for the reamaining musicians to jump over and in with his potent snare drum poops, slick cymbal/ hi- hat work, and stop on a dime breaks in pace on "Don't Bite The Hand That Feeds "
"Playing to the female auduence that fuels the industry, the boys hit the ballad button on "I Want To Love You Tonite".In stark comparison to the blatant commercialism of "Way Cool", the polished harmonies, smooth beat and polished craftiness of De Martini's solo over a tone setting rhyhtm riff by Crosby make for a more honest representation of how the band can work it's magic in slow- down mode.
"Chain Reaction is "Reach For The Sky's version of "Communication Breakdown" with it's Motley Crue like break neck tempo capped by Pearcy's suggestive line- "the only thing that sets me off will bring you to your knees"
If unconvinced or partially sold on the merits of Ratt the funky 'No Surprise" with it's backing vocal intro. heavy De Martini riff and avalanche of an intrusion by Blotzer with his opening beats make a strong case for crowd favorite in tandem with the stop and go,hard edged flow of "Bottom Line" where Blotzer fills in space beautifully around the exploits of his talented bandmates and wakes up the neighbors with his cymbal crashes and snap of the wrist drum rolls on " What's It Gonna Be" hi- lighted by the army of guitars gathered up by Crosby and De Martini that make for an rock- anthem flavored closing solo.
Though Pearcy and the gang may always be regarded as little or nothing songwriters, the pieces fall in place on "Reach For The Sky" in smoother symmetry than the spotty hit and miss nature of the previous LP "Dancing UnderCover".
This is Ratt N' Roll arguably at it's best, making 'Reach For The Sky" one of their top two or three albums and a worthy five star ranking.

C.S.
2-9- 04

Ratt may not have been a top-40 metal band but they never ceased to put out good music (except for some Detonator tracks)...

Reach For The Sky is just a good, solid album with lots of hooks, great lyrics, and unique among the Ratt albums. The first few albums were very similar in style...though I love them lots still...and this album is different.

"Don't let your dreams be clouded, Aim your sights high, Search your true feelings, And Reach For The Sky." - Ratt, Reach for the Sky

If you like Ratt then you'll love this classic Ratt album.One of the first six albums by the original Ratt. All tracks are pure Ratt-N-Roll.

Well, this is the one that got me into Ratt. I was 12-13 when this came out and I heard "Way Cool Jr." and I loved it. Then I went and bought the tape and didn't really care for the rest of it except for "City To City" and especially, "I Want A Woman". Then the more I listened to it, I liked this album. I then went out and got the rest of their tapes (at the time) and found out what all the fuss was about. There is very few filler songs here. And this doesn't just recycle the same sound that was found in their first three albums. This one tends to get a bad rap, but I think it's excellent. It's WAY better than "Dancing Undercover". In addition to the songs I already mentioned, "Don't Bite The Hand That Feeds", "Chain Reaction", "Bottom Line", & "What I'm After" are great cuts. And Ratt even did their first ballad for this one. "I Want To Love You Tonight" is a nice tune. I must admit, when this came out it did seem like Ratt was trying to get more commercial (hence the ballad and the more radio friendly sound), but who cares? It's good music and that's what counts. Buy this.

Ratt's fourth full-length album--1988's Reach for the Sky--is good. It sports worthy songwriting, tight musicianship, and crisp sound quality. The material is in a straight-ahead hard rock musical direction. Stephen Pearcy's vocals are unique, magnetic, and ambitious. Of the ten tracks, there is one power ballad--"I Want to Love You Tonight," a song which features a pretty guitar intro and smooth background vocals. Though I like all of the tunes, my favorites are "I Want a Woman" and "Way Cool Jr." The fun, energetic "I Want a Woman" exhibits a memorable, engaging refrain, tasteful rhythm guitar work from Warren DeMartini and Robbin Crosby, and a nice guitar solo from DeMartini. "Way Cool Jr." features cool singing from Pearcy and a notable, pleasing chorus; also, this cut contains brass instrumentation. Other compositions that I enjoy are "Bottom Line" and "What's It Gonna Be." "Bottom Line" presents an attractive refrain and a gratifying main guitar riff, while "What's It Gonna Be" has a likeable chorus. Even though the CD insert does not include the song lyrics, there is a color photo of the band. The album cover artwork is interesting. The disc is just over 39 minutes. Reach for the Sky is a recommendable piece of work from Ratt.

Don't let the bizarre imagery of this album's cover fool you; Ratt haven't gone transcendental on us or anything. The music behind the cover is still filled with tons o' Ratt-styled sleeze, for which they are world famous. This album came out in '88, and it's easily one of their top three recordings. Songs like "City to City," "Way Cool Jr." and "What I'm After" jam dirty and hard. Pure RATT! I used to groove hard to this tape when I was in high school, but I doubt high school kids today listen to such stuff. Nowadays it's Limp Bizkit and Staind.

Well, hope this review has helped.

Catch ya' on the flipside...

Just had to pick this up after hearing Infestation... I forgot what a great band Ratt is. Make sure this on is in your collection!

Way Cool Jr. is the COOLEST song ever!! Only RATT could combine rock, metal, and a little bit of pop with funky brass horns!! Most all the other songs are great too! 5 out of 5 stars!

The first four Ratt cds basically defined the 80's era "glam metal" or "glam rock" with their signature L.A. sound (along with bands like Motley Crue, Quiet Riot, Dokken, and many others).

Here on their 5th cd, the bands shifts to a more blues-feel rock (think Aerosmith). And while I personally think "Invasion of Your Privacy" and "Dancing Undercover" are their best works, this set of songs have some powerful tracks, among them: 'City to City', 'Way Cool Jr.', 'I Want to Love You Tonight', & 'Chain Reaction'.

Must have for any Ratt fan.