1989 had more than its share of one-album wonders -- artists who provided one album and, for various reasons, never came out with a second album.
Lord Tracy
, a little-known
hard rock
/
heavy metal
arena rock
combo, turned out to be among 1989's one-album wonders -- which is regrettable because their first and last album,
Deaf Gods of Babylon
, is generally decent. While this
Mark Dodson
-produced CD falls short of excellent, it is a respectable effort that is fairly unpredictable. In 1989, there were plenty of faceless hair bands in the
metal
field -- headbangers who figured that the quickest and easiest way to achieve commercial success was to sound exactly like
Guns N' Roses
,
Motley Cruee
, or
Bon Jovi
. But
avoids the knee-jerk, formulaic approach. Depending on their mood, the band will incorporate influences that range from
AC/DC
(
"Submission"
) to
Aerosmith
"Rats Motel,"
"East Coast Rose"
Motoerhead
"Piranha"
). Although
and
are a big part of this release, a few of the tracks aren't headbanger-oriented --
"Chosen Ones"
"Foolish Love"
are glossy
numbers that wouldn't have been out of place on a
Bryan Adams
CD. And
makes an unexpected detour into
rap-rock
on
"3HC,"
which is the sort of tune that
Run-D.M.C.
or the
Beastie Boys
would have recorded in the 1980s. So why did an album as decent as
fall through the cracks? Inadequate promotion probably had a lot to do with it. At any rate, this long-out-of-print album is worth obtaining if you can track down a copy. ~ Alex Henderson