The most rip-roaring one-off of all time
Have you ever seen artists that put one album out on their own... and that's it for them? Sure thing. They're usually local, regional, "maybe they tried" national, whatever you want to call them projects. Those extremely common stories have existed since the 1970s. How about a band that had independently released their own music (over a short or meaningful period of time), then received a legitimate record label deal, but only released one album on the label... and called it a day. Of course. The group that finally felt like they made it, and when push came to shove on the supposed big break, it fizzled out. The patience wears thin, the business screwed them over, the band members become disheartened and then, no more. There have also been those uncommon artists whose only record was on a major label. Studio project only? Expected one-hit-only wonder? Nothing much of value on the horizon? No interest? Pick one of the above (not physically above, but you know how to navigate). You can go back to the 1950s for that scenario. Now we arrive at an industry oddity. Try this on for size. Brand new LA rock 4-piece (and I don't mean fried chicken). Musicians with no significant background. Without any prior material exposed to the masses, a major record deal ensues. Genuine fully formed album hits the streets coupled with several months of substantial touring, and then adios amigos, they are over. Just like that. Only one record. One major label release and poof! The one important piece of information is that this organized collection of songs RULE! The best one-off record in history, in my book of books.... AMERICAN PEARL with the year 2000’s self-titled "American Pearl".
Take a minute and grab your meat grinder. Not your blender. Won't get it done. We need a little more industrial muscle.
Now that we all have the required tool for our creation, let's do it. Grab hold of the following gems from the following decades: 70s - Aerosmith "Rocks" ... 80s - Guns N' Roses "Appetite for Destruction" ... 90s - Social Distortion "White Light, White Heat, White Trash" + a delicious salting of Manic Street Preachers "Generation Terrorists" (because I felt the need to include the Brits in on this one). Jam those gangster recordings into the grind process, and once it's finito, you have the self-titled "American Pearl" from American Pearl. Right out of the gate... it's so heavy metal but it's still hard rock, and it's so hard rock but still heavy metal. You have to climb the Marshall stacks to get to the Les Pauls, and then climb the Les Pauls to get to the Marshall stacks again, until you bang your head on the ceiling. This is an example of how guitars, amps and cabinets all become best friends. When they are all unified with one goal of kicking your friggin' ass. After we accept the perfect guitar rock fate, we'll just toss in a tight bottom end groove and an enormous resonating vocal belting out and directing some delicious arena level rock anthems.
When I first heard "American Pearl" from American Pearl, I actually did not know who produced it. That was extremely unusual for me, because I seemed to be (and still am) robotically programmed to look at producer/engineering credits before even taking the shrink-wrap off the CD. It was a promo copy at the time, so I guess I just got down to business. I believe I was 3-4 tracks into the album when my reaction was, "who the hell made this record?" It sounded so pure and incredibly appropriate. "Huh, it says what?" ... "It says Steve Jones and Mudrock - producers?" ... "I knew Mudrock, but... nah, not Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols, no way." I actually called my contact at the label only to ask if it was that Steve Jones or some other random Steve Jones from Vancouver or Bakersfield. The answer was, it was the British-Sex-Pistols-Punk-Rock-Artist-Guy behind the board. Since when did he produce? Apparently, it was quite rare, but he did so from time to time. Ok, well he's doing serious work here! Yes, Mudrock gets the credit, too. It's just joyous giving a Pistol as many props as allowed.
Personal Note: While managing an indie hard rock act several years ago, I was on the hunt for the proper producer in '05 to accept a studio spec deal for their upcoming EP. (If unfamiliar with spec deal, no time to explain at the moment, so feel free to research). My first two choices to chase down were Steve Jones and Steve Haigler. Steve Jones for his effort on the American Pearl record alone. Steve Haigler for a universe of production excellence. The Steve Jones inquiry ended abruptly with the reverberating words in my ear being "unavailable, unavailable ... unavailable". Luckily, Steve Haigler did work out, which was entirely satisfying. Anyway, point being, I was so obsessed with the sonic supremacy Steve Jones rocked out on this one sucker that I needed to partake in a piece of his goodness.
Steering away from the producer babble and back to the 1's and 0's on the shiny disc, I am going to simply close out the discussion. American Pearl (both record and band) is not guitar, bass, drums and vocals. It's GUITARRRR, BAYYYYSSS, DRUMMMMZZ and BLAYYYZZING ROCK VOCAL POWER! It has a timeless sound that I believe doesn't connect to any era. Unfortunately, that is all we would get from this unit. Still, it's the most rip-roaring one off of all time.
