Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
hanoi revisited, October 7, 2000
i remember being introduced to hanoi rocks in the late eighties by catching a blurb in rolling stone that axl rose had considered them a major influence and decided to reissue the band's entire back catalog on cd. while this was noteworthy in itself, some of the album titles in the review were attention grabbers: "bangkok shocks, saigon shakes, hanoi rocks" seemed like a bold name for a debut and painted an air of mystery and exotica around the band. i soon had purchased the entire catalog. although i have long outgrown hard rock, hanoi rocks was an important band for me. it was the first group that i listened to that was under the radar, releasing its entire output on indie labels. it opened me up to the idea that radio was a very limited outlet for interesting music and that the best music was that which required a little bit of investigation to find. michael monroe was beautiful and oozed attitude, a drag queen not intimidated of grabbing the reins for a band that had a lot of musical muscle and real swagger. their debut was unaccomplished but had a spiky, out-of-the-gutter punk attitude that kept the whole endeavor afloat. "village girl" and "stop crying" contained amazing slices of music but were bogged by their kindergarten lyrics. the "oriental beat" album was the point where they started to embellish their music with the sort of exotica in which their name implied. "motorvatin", "visitor", "sweet home suburbia", "no law or order", and the title track were gloriously diverse and rocked unlike any other glam band before or since. in fact, despite the image, hanoi was not a glam band at all. however, they did use that music as a lens to filter punk, blues, candy pop, and r&b. as for this live album, it starts off killer and then sort of slumps in the middle before delivering a fantastic finale. the opening four song sequence demonstrates that once locked into a groove the band could entertain with inventiveness and precision. the encore of covers at the end are rather faithful to the originals but are done with a hungry vitality that surprises given the band was at the very end of their career trajectory. they decided to call it quits when their drummer, razzle, died in a car crash with a very drunk vince neil. it was a respectable decision and one i stand behind since the musical direction they were heading into with "two steps from the move" was conventional and stripped the band of all the exotica, diversity, and soul that they displayed on their prior releases. unfortunately, these releases are once again out-of-print and the band's most vital and interesting work is unavailable to dot com and record store browsers.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hanoi Rocks - 'All Those Wasted Years - Live At The Marquee' (Geffen) 4 1/2 stars, February 5, 2008
Only my second ever title I've purchased of this '80's Finnish glam band. Originally released as a 2-vinyl lp in 1985. Great to have it mastered and reissued on CD. Tunes here I was most taken with were the rocking "Back To Mystery City", "Motorvatin'", "Don't Never Leave Me", "11th Street Kids", "Taxi Driver" and their two covers - their so-so version of Alice Cooper's "Under My Wheels" and the Yardbirds standard "Train Kept A Rollin'". Sound quality is great and as much of a live album nut that I am, I'm totally pleased with this disc. Line-up: Mike Monroe-vocals, Andy McCoy & Nasty Suicide-guitars, Sam Yaffa-bass and the extremely missed Razzle on drums. I still run across patrons that simply don't remember Hanoi Rocks. If you like '80's bands like Faster Pussycat, Motley Crue, Kix, Guns 'N Roses and L.A. Guns, you should enjoy this live CD. Glad to hear they've recently reunited with at least two original members. A must-have.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best Live Album Of 80's, May 26, 2000
Hanoi Rocks never sold millions of albums, but they were one of the best live bands back in th 80's. They were raw, wild and most of all they knew how to play their instruments. Maybe Andy McCoy is not Eddie Van Halen, but he really kicked ass with his guitar (one thing that Ed. never did). Unfortunately this is only live album of Hanoi Rocks, but it is the best HR. There is almost every classical Hanoi-tunes and in live athmosphere these songs are even better than in studio albums. If this band would have last, we never have heard band called Guns N' Roses.
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by Hanoi Rocks 
