Born Vince Neil Wharton on February 8, 1961, in Hollywood, CA, Neil was the front man of Mötley Crüe during their heyday in the 80's. After Neil joined Mötley Crüe in 1981, the band recorded the independent album 'Too Fast for Love,' which attracted the attention of Elektra Records. They subsequently signed with Elektra and in 1983 released their multi-platinum, 'Shout at the Devil.' After a few more platinum albums, the group parted ways with their frontman. Neil's first solo venture was a collaboration with Jack Blades and Tommy Shaw (Damn Yankees) on "You're Invited (But Your Friend Can't Come)" which appeared on the "Encino Man" soundtrack album. He then began work on his first solo album, "Exposed". Neil needed a band and Billy Idol suggested his former guitarist Steve Stevens. Along with Stevens, ex-Enuff Z-Nuff drummer Vik Foxx, bassist Robbie Crane and rhythm guitarist Dave Marshall were also brought on board. After two solo albums, Neil reunited with Crüe and released "Generation Swine" in 1997.
Vince Neil - Exposed (Warner Bros.) 1993
1. "Look in Her Eyes"
(5:51)
2. "Sister of Pain" (5:03)
3. "Can't Have Your Cake" (3:56)
4. "Fine, Fine Wine" (4:12)
5. "The Edge" (4:54)
6. "Can't Change Me" (4:40)
7. "Set Me Free" (4:03)
8. "Living Is a Luxury" (5:39
9. "You're Invited (But Your Friend Can't..." (4:23)
10. "Gettin' Hard" (4:38)
11. "Forever" (5:11)
I was a big Crue fan when their first album came out. I remained a fan through "Shout At the Devil" at which point I didn't really follow the band. As such, I didn't pick up Vince Neil's solo albums until many years after they were released. I picked up this CD in the bargain bin for $1.99 (USD). For that price, how bad could it be? Not bad at all actually. "Exposed" sounds a bit like late 80's Crue with a bit more diversity. The guitarist on this album is none other than Steve Stevens (Billy Idol/Adam Bomb). Stevens' guitar playing is excellent, although he doesn't have the same raunchy, crunch that Mick Mars had. The songs aren't as immediately catchy as some of Motley Crue's material, but within a few listens the songcraft begins to take hold. Several tracks on this disc were written by the Shaw/Blades team that made up the Damn Yankees. "Set Me Free" was originally a Sweet song, and is one of my favorite songs on this CD. "You're Invited But Your Friend Can't Come" was featured in the movie "Encino Man".
The Japanese version of this CD has two bonus tracks, Rod Stewart's "Blondes Have More Fun" and "I Wanna Be Sedated" originally by the Ramones.
Vince Neil - Carved In Stone (Warner Bros.) 1995
1. Breakin' in the Gun (3:52)
2. The Crawl (4:17)
3. One Way (3:51)
4. Black Promises (4:52)
5. Skylar's Song (4:58)
6. Make U Feel (4:01)
7. Writing on the Wall (4:50)
8. Find a Dream (4:54)
9. One Less Mouth to Feed (3:36)
10. The Rift (3:57)
"Carved in Stone" is the second solo album by Mötley Crüe frontman Vince Neil. For this album Neil hired guitarist Brent Woods, who had previously played with Wildside and was later a touring guitarist for Warrant. Neil's first solo album was fairly popular among rock fans, and especially Crüe fans. However, by the mid-90's Neil's style of Aqua-Net infused, melodic, party rock was no longer popular. Instead, hard rock gave way to grunge, alternative and rap-core. As such, Neil apparently thought that a change was in order and embraced the popular 1990s sounds. The overall sound and tone of the album is darker than "Exposed. "Carved in Stone" even has elements of hip-hop. Album opener "Breakin' the Gun" has hip-hop beats, scratching and sampling. Likewise, "One Way" is a hip-hop based song with sample and a saxophone solo. However, the melodic sound wasn't completely abandoned. For example, "Skylar's Song" is a piano based ballad dedicated to his daughter who passed away from cancer at the age of 4. It is the one song chosen as a single from the album and probably the most heartfelt song on the album. I'll give Neil credit for trying something new, but overall, there just isn't much interesting going on with this album and the entire thing sounds forced and unnatural. To be quite frank, this is just not what I want to hear from the Mötley Crüe frontman.
Related Collections:
Mötley Crüe | Enuff Z'nuff