"Back to Mystery City" was
Hanoi Rocks' last album before getting signed to Colombia Records. "Back to Mystery City" still has a few teething troubles and sharp edges, which
Hanoi Rocks managed to adjust for their next album.
The album was the first to introduce Razzle as drummer. "Back to Mystery City" is marked by
Hanoi Rocks' permanent move to London.
Tooting Bec Wreck is about the place where
Hanoi Rocks lived in Tooting Bec, South London. The song is driven by attitude and certainly has a new wave beat to it with Monroe's unique vocals as the highlight of the song. Since the song is about a place in South London - the farm noises are in contrast to the lyrics, since we suddenly get cow noises and cockcrows sounds. This is a great example of how the early music of
Hanoi Rocks was impossible to label. The same goes for
Sailing Down the Tears which is hard to categorize.
However, no one can neglect Andy McCoy's ability to write fantastic songs.
Until I Get You is the album's highlight and one of my all time favorite
Hanoi Rocks songs. The lyrics cleverly deal with a story line about a guy chasing a girl. The guitar solo is perfectly incorporated into the song's emotion and love theme.
Overall the listener is on a bumpy ride back to mystery city, but still there are those glimpses of a great band taking shape. Other fine examples are the opening piece Str
ange Boys Play Weird Openings, which is a beautiful acoustic piece with water purl and birds whistling. This record also gave birth to
Mental Beat with its great vibe and powerful chorus earned its place even in today's live set.
The record is a solid 6, so unless you bought the record when it came out the album looses a grade because of the ravages of time. Therefore the record is graded with the average of the two.
Written by
Michael Sunday, July 10, 2005
Show all reviews by MichaelRatingsMichael: 5.5/10Members: No members have rated this album yet.
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