1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Big Sounds!, May 7 2005
This review is from: Big House (Audio CD)
The problem with a lot of so-called "Hair Metal" is that you just can't listen to it now. A lot of it sounds so dated, and so many of those bands are faceless and interchangable. An exception to this was Big House from Edmonton, Alberta.
Every song on this album has swagger. This doesn't sound like a debut album at all. The band, and singer Jan Ek in particular, make this sound like a second or third album. Big House were also influenced by punk rock a lot more than their peers. Drummer Sjor (pronounced Shore) Throndson stated that the band used to have mohawks when they were kids. This comes out in the sheer attitude in songs like "Dollar In My Pocket (Pretty Things)", "Devil's Road", and "L.A.". "L.A." in particular has unabashed pop melodies that clearly come from classic punk roots.
There's the singles "All Nite" and "Baby Doll" (obligatory ballad) with suitably silly lyrics. Also silly were the band's name and album cover, I suppose it all works as a package. It's no wonder the band never made it big with a cover this horrible; imagine my shock when I saw that it was done by none other than Hugh Syme, master of many Rush records.
And this faceless cover conceals within it one of the best hard rock albums of the era. Sadly that era died before Big House could make a second album, but let's celebrate that we have this one. Just like we are glad for the first two Skid Row albums, or "New Jersey" by Bon Jovi, we should be thankful that we can remember Big House.
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