"Wasted in America" was
Love/Hate's second album and the follow up to the critical acclaimed debut "Black out in the Red Room". "Wasted in America" was released in 1992 and didn't earn
Love/Hate the breakthrough in the US, but manifested them as one the most successful rock bands in the UK at the time.
"Wasted in America" doesn't have the same edge as
Love/Hate's finest work "Black out in the Red Room", but still its a great record. "Wasted in America" has a handful of really strong songs that reach same heights as the debut - namely the title track,
Yucca Man,
Don't Fuck With Me,
Tranquilizer and
Evil Twin.
The title track
Wasted in America is the most approachable song with its melodic groove.
Yucca Man is a typical full blast
Love/Hate song with groovy riffs and raw rocking vocals. Album highlight is
Tranquilizer, where vocalist
Jizzy Pearl sings in his typical scat rappy style, while the song builds up for the explosive chorus.
Overall
Love/Hate is all about fast rocking songs driven by bassist Skid, who once again is responsible for all songs on the record. The lyrics deals with party, but compared to the debut the lyrics are a little darker involving drugs as well. The ballad like (read
Love/Hate style)
Don't Fuck With Me is the ultimate outcast song about being a Rock 'n' Roller.
Love/Hate didn't even want
Evil Twin to be on the record, since it was an old song but luckily the label insisted.
Evil Twin rounds off the original record, where also
Social Sidewinder deserves an honorable mention.
In 2004 the French label re-issued
Love/Hate's first two albums with bonus tracks.
Castles from sand plus the swaggering and eminent
I am the Snake are both great original
Love/Hate songs.
Why Do You Think they call it dope is live from Rock City Nottingham, while
Soul House Tales is a segment with the history of Love/hate with focus on this record mixed with musical highlights.
The album is consistent unlike some of the later
Love/Hate releases and while it wasn't as strong as the debut "Wasted in America" is still an essential CD for any Hard Rock fan.
Another thing that characterized the first two
Love/Hate records is the artwork, which once again is a painting done by Skid.
Written by
Michael Sunday, May 7, 2006
Show all reviews by MichaelRatingsMichael: 7.5/10Members: No members have rated this album yet.
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