Saints of the Underground (Release Year – 2008)
Jani Lane’s side project has finally seen the light of day, and has been released by Warrior Records. The timing of this release is kind of odd, with Jani recently reuniting with his former band, Warrant.
Nonetheless, The Saints of the Underground new disc is here, and I believe that this is Jani Lane’s most solid effort since the Warrant CD, Dog Eat Dog from 1992.
On this disc, you get two cover songs and eight original tunes. The first is American Girl by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. SOTU has increased the tempo on this song by a half step or so, and I like their version quite a bit, although it is very true to the original.
The second cover song is Moonlight Mile by the Rolling Stones. I didn’t really care for the Stones’ version of this song, and SOTU didn’t do anything to improve upon it. Their version is o.k. but It seems like an odd song for them to cover, especially when the Rolling Stones have so many great upbeat songs in their catalog.
The opening track, Dead Man Shoes sounds like a lost Warrant hit from the early 90’s. I like this tune a lot. Tomorrow Never Comes is another solid tune, and a good follow up to keep the pace going on this record. Good Times has a decent intro, which gave me high hopes for this song. It is a mid tempo number that came across as semi-average tune. It took a few listens for me to get into this tune more. I wish they would have made this one a little heavier, but it is, what it is.
The song Exit, didn’t really excite me too much. This sounds like an extra tune that was cut off of a Warrant album. Just when I was starting to lose faith in this record, Signs of Life came at exactly the right time. This tune has a heavier edge that some of the other songs on this record are lacking. It is a cool tune.
Bobby Blotzer’s drums stand out a little more to me, on the tune Bruised. I like the music on this tune, a lot more than the lyrics. Jimmy is a solid closer for this album. This song has a guitar lick that reminds me a whole lot of some old Thin Lizzy tunes.
All in All, Saints of the Underground have released a pretty good CD for the most part. Their are a couple of weak spots, but there are great songs here too.
Warrant and Jani Lane fans will eat this record up! For more information on Saints of the Underground, and to preview six of the songs from Love the Sin, Hate the Sinner, please visit the SOTU myspace page.
Rating:
Out of 10
Track Listing:
1. Dead Man Shoes
2. Tomorrow Never Comes
3. All in How You Wear It
4. Good Times
5. Exit
6. American Girl
7. Signs of Life
8. Bruised
9. Moonlight Mile
10. Jimmy
Saints of the Underground is:
Jani Lane – Vocals
Bobby Blotzer – Drums
Robby Crane – Bass
Kerri Kelli – Guitars
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Jani and the guys have a great album here. Now that warrant and Jani have split for the final time , they need to get this album on tour with a sober Jani. Jani is the greatest vocalist ever when he is sober , when drunk he loses his luster. Jani we love ya man give us some more S.O.T.U.. It’s very hard for me to be critical of Jani becuz I believe he’s the best. So man up and put out the tunes.
I saw Jani play VH1 Stripped on the Stip release party in Hollywood. He played some new songs. These songs were really good. Jani has good in Warrant but his skills as an artist has grown since the 80’s. I highly recommend his new stuff. See him live when you can.
awesome cd
yeah, like the dude even has a career.
Bic, that is an old show, but I agree, that wasn’t the wisest of career moves at the time.
Gotta admit…the myspace songs kick ass!
We were just watching some bogus show over the weekend…”Celebrity Fit Club” or some such crap with Jani in it.
A competition for overweight celebs….
He should NOT be doing junk like that if he wants his new music to be accepted….
I liked this one far more than I thought I would. I reviewed it at my site today.
http://metalmark.blogspot.com/2008/04/saints-of-underground-love-sin-hate.html