1. 1 A.M. 2. Wasted 3. Step Back 4. Ride 5. Wish 6. Kick Out 7. Blacklist 8. Kickin For Days 9. Time And Time Again 10. Goin Off 11. New Orleans 12. I Got It All
Released in 2001 on Warner Brothers Records, Beautiful Creatures' self-titled debut is what hard rock needed to help it come off of life support. Founded by singer Joe Leste (Formerly of the 80's group Bang Tango but had to leave to join LA Guns) and supported by lead guitarist DJ Ashba (formerly of the Bullet Boys), rhythm guitarist Anthony Focx, (which was originally to be Brent Muscat formerly of Faster Pussycat but left the guys to join Dio) bass guitarist Kenny Kweens, and drummer Glen Sobel, the group set out to change the face of (or write the future of) hard rock as we know it. The Japanese import features 2 bonus tracks (an acoustic version of 1 A.M. and Get Up), but for all intents and purposes of this review I am gonna stick with the version that you can pick up at any ma and pa record store in Everytown, USA.
Hitting the scene in 1999 (but not without sacrifices), getting signed by Warner Brothers immediately, having a song on two major soundtracks (Valentine featured "1 A.M." and Rollerball featured "Ride"), and releasing a perfect debut album all in a little under a year, you would think these guys should be living it up? Not exactly. Losing lead guitarist DJ Ashba, (later replaced by Alex Grossi) and drummer Glen Sobel (replaced by Matt Starr) only started a trend of shitty luck for them. They left Warner Brothers (they say they did it but there are far too many stories to know the real story, but since this is BC review, we'll use their statement which was that WBM was not what they expected so they left), and the Beautiful Creatures legacy had died as fast as it started. Right, as if that would happen so easily. The group got a new label (JVC Records out of Japan), a new lineup where needed, and a new album titled "Deuce" which as far as I know, has no release date set. I can hope it is as good as their debut, and doesn't have the sophomore jinx that many bands are faced with.
Back to the debut and the sound that has me calling this one of the greatest hard rock albums in a time when we have this crap that people try to call music (Korn, Staind, new Metallica, Puddle Of Mudd, and many more). Everyone knows Motley Crue. Picture the bad ass Crue of the 80's and early 90's without all the hairspray and lipstick or tight clothes, Alice In Chains before they went soft and Ozzy Osbourne (just to mention a few) as influences for the BC sound. I would have to say that this is the tightest music sound I remember from a nonmetal group. Great Lyrics, hard rock riffs, melody, and overall tone of this CD is as close to heaven as one can get. Any group that can have one of the most soft spoken ballads (Wish) that can still kick your ass at the same time has to be worth checking out.
If you want a hard rock change of pace, and you do not own this CD, just slap the shit out of yourself and then GET IT!
--IcedMojo 12.18.03
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