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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
AS MOTLEY AS THE CRUE GETS!, January 15, 2005
I was in college in the fall of 1983 when I bought this originally on vinyl. I was huge (and still am) into KISS and thought these guys were trying a bit too hard to look like KISS. However, the graphics and look intrigued me and I bought this after seeing the "Looks That Kill" video and finding out Motley Crue wasn't a second-rate KISS after all. Maybe the attraction was due (in part) to the fact that KISS was dropping the make-up and I didn't want them to lose the look that made them, well, KISS!
I found that the Crue had their own style and sound that was a breath of fresh air in the mainly synth-pop early 80's. Rock n' roll was still ALIVE after all!
This CD is, from start to finish, THE best rocking Motley Crue ever gave us. "Too Fast For Love" was a primer and they hit their stride on "Shout At The Devil." EVERY song is excellent and it's non-stop nail biting rock all the way. They do mix it up a biy though. "God Bless The Children Of The Beast" is a suprisingly piece that (like KISS' "Beth") shows a dimension to the band that, on the surface, you would never guess was there.
"Too Young To Fall In Love" was perfect for the MTV crowd, and "Red Hot" and "Knock 'Em Dead Kid" was there for the true headbangers. The Crue even took a crack at The Beatles 'White Album' classic, "Helter Skelter," put their own mark on it and came up with a gem. Vince Neil is no Paul McCartney in the vocal department, but his voice works for the band regardless.
After seeing Motley Crue live in Pittsburgh in 1984 I was primed to have a new album. They came back in '85 with "Theatre Of Pain," but I found that one a bit "too MTV" - with the edge of "Shout" clearly tamed down. "Dr. Feelgood" may be their biggest seller, but they never sounded more like Motley Crue to me than on this TIMELESS CLASSIC - "Shout At The Devil!"
I don't think any Crue fan was disappointed when they heard this for the first time. I BECAME a fan thanks to this one.
Thanks Nikki, Vince, Tommy & Mick...for a true masterpiece of rock n' roll - and good luck on the road in 2005! SEE YOU THEN!
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A quintessential 80s heavy metal album, October 13, 2005
Although Motley Crue's debut album "Too Fast for Love" is a fine album that is held in high esteem today, upon its release in 1982, it failed to gain attention. Not detoured by their debut's lack of success, the Crue hit the studio once again with producer Tom Weirman to record their sophomore classic "Shout at the Devil" (1983).
"Shout at the Devil" is the album that put Motley Crue on the map and thrust them into superstardom. While "Dr. Feelgood" (1989) remains the Crue's best selling album, many fans regard "Shout at the Devil" as the band's magnum opus.
Eschewing the punk styling of their debut, the Crue opted for a heavier, fiercer look and sound for their second album. If "Too Fast for Love" paid tribute to the Clash and Generation X, "Shout at the Devil" barrowed a little from KISS and Aerosmith; but made the sound heavier. Song after song, "Shout" takes no prisoners. Indeed, "Shout at the Devil" is the bands heaviest, most intense release.
While "Shout" isn't exactly a concept record, defiance against corrupt authority seems to be the album's central theme. "Shout at the Devil" depicts a world without morality, a hopeless, empty, sorrowful place. Evil abounds, but you must fight it, be strong, and fight back.
One reason "Shout" is such a great album is the band really gives 100 percent effort. The Crue had not yet slipped into complacency and went into the studio full force. It's as though with "Shout," they wanted to make a statement. They wanted to tell the world that they were the meanest, baddest, loudest, fiercest band on the planet. With "Shout," Nikki Sixx (bass), Tommy Lee (drums), Mick Mars (guitar), and Vince Neil (vocals), give the performance of their career.
Not only did the Crue have the image and the attitude, they also had great songs to back it up. Simply put, Nikki Sixx's best songwriting is from this period. The songs are heavy, but also highly melodic. The whole album has great hooks and grooves, but is never overly commercial or contrived. While the Crue's later work was excellent if uneven, "Shout" is virtually flawless.
The album starts out with an introduction titled "In the Beginning," which describes a world gone to hell. The narrator tells the listener to fight back, "be strong and Shout at the Devil!" This introduction is essential to setting the atmosphere for the rest of the album and is a great lead-in the album's title track. The mid-tempo "Shout at the Devil" has a magnificent pounding beat with a sinister riff and groove. The rapid-fire "Looks that Kill" is probably the album's catchiest song, which may be why it was chosen as a single. The hard-hitting "Bastard" is good, if not excellent, and keeps up the momentum.
The album slows down a bit for the haunting instrumental "God Bless the Children of the Beast," which is a nice change of pace. This leads perfectly into a cover of the Beatles "Helter Skelter." "Helter Skelter" is considered by some to be one of the first metal songs ever written, so its inclusion is not entirely out-of-place. The Crue more-or-less stick to the original sound of the track, but give it a little more of a metal trimming. Although not quite up-to-par with the original (it is The Beatles after all), it's definitely a worthy cover and a great addition to "Shout." "Red Hot," while not the album's most well-known song, is quite strong and infectious. "Too Young to fall in Love," another Motley staple, is the closest the album comes to an actual balled. The intensity of the album only increases as it winds down with the no-holds-bar "Knock `em Dead Kid," and "Ten Seconds to Love." The intensity levels off with "Danger," which makes for a good closing number.
The remastered edition has plenty of bonus material that should be of interest to fans. Demo versions of "Shout at the Devil," "Looks that Kill," and "Too Young to fall in Love" show the songs as works-in-progress and are of important historical value. The demo "Hotter than Hell" was re-worked, and re-titled "Louder than Hell" for the Crue's follow-up album "Theatre of Pain" (1985). It's cool to hear a "Theatre of Pain" era song as it might have been used for "Shout." The unreleased "I Will Survive" is good, but not great.
Released in 1983, "Shout at the Devil" has held up fairly well. It may seem a little dated and tame when compared to something like Marilyn Manson's "Antichrist Superstar" (1996) or other more recent metal bands, but "Shout" was one of the first of its type. It should be noted that Manson himself is a big fan of this album. So without "Shout," there would be no "Antichrist Superstar."
Along with "Too Fast for Love," and the highly underrated self-titled "Motley Crue" (1994), "Shout at the Devil" remains the Crue's best work. Although there were many imitators, some good, some bad, "Shout at the Devil" remains a quintessential 80s heavy metal album.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Heaviest Most Classic Crue, October 13, 2005
THE BAND: Vince Neil (vocals), Mick Mars (guitar), Nikki Sixx (bass), Tommy Lee (drums). Home town: Los Angeles, CA.
THE DISC: 17 total tracks (16 music tracks, 1 bonus video "Looks That Kill"). The original 11 songs, plus 5 unreleased demos (3 songs from the album, and two new songs). All together, clocks in at approximately 60 minutes. Originally released on Elecktra Records label; digitally remastered and re-released on Hip-O Records.
COMMENTS: "Shout At The Devil" (1983) was my first real introduction to Motley Crue. When their debut ("Too Fast For Love") hit the street 2 years earlier, I thought it was good in a very raw sense... but it didn't hit me like "Shout" did. Where "Too Fast" was all over the place (coarse, unrefined, perhaps even immature), "Shout" was the slick polar opposite... cultivated, well written, professional, polished; a full-blown ripe and ready rock band ready to take on the world. As good as the hits were ("Looks That Kill", "Too Young To Fall In Love" and even briefly the remake of the Beatles' "Helter Skelter" hitting the FM airwaves), the deeper album cuts totally rocked... "Red Hot", Ten Seconds To Love", "Bastard", "Knock 'Em Dead Kid" and the title track were all classics in my book. The bonus cuts here are very worthy. It's great hearing alternate takes on such classic material. The two new songs are equally good - especially since I had never heard them before (I must admit, when I first picked up the new CD, I was hoping "Hotter Than Hell" was a remake of the old Kiss tune... but it's not). The Crue has numerous compilations ("Red, White & Crue" easily being the best) and "Shout At The Devil" is well represented on each. Some fans will say 1989's "Dr. Feelgood" is the Crue's best album. I agree that "Dr. Feelgood" was their most commercially successful release (4 major hits), but not the band's most rock solid collective effort. If you want one studio album from the Crue, it has to be this one. Great disc.
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