Customer Reviews

Up & Around the Bend: Definitive Collection

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This cd is a great compilation, but I don't know why everyone keeps labeling these guys as 80's pop/glam metal-They have more of a rootsy, rock-n-roll sound, more like classic punk. Anyways, i've always liked HR, and this collection is one the best you can get. It has all their best songs (where's Don't Never Leave Me?) and it's a great introduction to this classic band.

Straight up this is the most catchy, upbeat, hard rocking, non-commercial music that I have ever heard. It took a few listens to really "get," but I haven't been able to pull this out of my car disc player yet. Highlights include "Tragedy," which sounds much like a Billy Idol track, "Lost in the City," which was the inspiration for GnR's "Paradise City", "I Want You" - sounds almost like the Rolling Stones, "Self Destruction Blues," and "Beer and a Cigarette." Great, great stuff. Can't get enough of it!!

I cant see how these guys dont have much more then cult status. Obviously this band wasn't and isn't promoted half as well as they should've been. This is like the Ramones meet New York Dolls headlong into the most pop/rock/punk fun I've heard in years. I cannot see alot of comparrisons to later glam metal bands at all. I see Motley Crue dressed very similar and maybe the poppier tunes of "Too Fast For Love", but Motley Crue and most later Glam metal bands didn't sing about the things Hanoi Rocks did. These guys didn't seem to be as pretentious half as much as the bleeding hearted power-ballad or satanic-imagery bands of the mid 80's which I completely loved anyhow. This reminds me alot more of Roxy Music and the Ramones in the lyrical department.

Reguardless the sound samples dont do thier music justice. HOOKY!, poppy, rythems occasional tossed with saxaphone and harmonica to add a very light blues atmosphere. This is music for a good mood with the simplicity enough to make you feel left alone to dance without any pretense or care.

Awesome!!

This is a great compilation album, 38 tracks which is roughly half of their five studio albums plus some singles and live tracks. I agree the glam tag is a bit of a misnomer; it's more image than sound. My faves are "Tragedy", "Cheyenne" and "Tooting Bec Wreck", but there are so many good tracks on here that this won't leave your player for a while.

HR had the sound to be huge without losing their geniuneness or descending into radio cheesiness. Obviously that didn't happen, but this compilation deserves an honest listen. Enjoy.

Hanoi Rocks was one of those bands that defied catagories. Rock, yeah. Glam, sure. Punk, OK. To me, the amazing thing about this band was how innovative they were without being trendy. Michael Monroe could not have possibly been anything in this life except a rock and roll singer. Andy McCoy seems to have been created just to personify every stereotype about rock stars. Confident to the point of cocky, Hanoi Rocks could have been as familiar as the Rolling Stones. But if they had, something would have been amiss in the music.

This collection has just about everything the casual fan would want from them. It's a more than sufficient starter pack for those who overlooked them. Some of us will still get the individual CDs for the deep tracks, but this release would be enough for all but the hardcore.