Pretty Boy Floyd were the band that back in the day took the ‘Poison template’ to sleazy extremes, best known for their hair and the provocatively-titled debut ‘Leather Boyz With Electric Toyz’ for some they took the genre too far, for others the music became almost secondary to the party. For me they just didn’t have the songs except for a handful on that debut amongst all that gloss and Aqua Net that made you think that just maybe if they got their act together they might just defy the odds and become the next big thing. That of course didn’t happen.
When second album ‘Porn Stars’ eventually came in 1999 it contained reworked versions of five tracks from that debut, re-recordings of two other previously released songs and two covers. 10 years for four new songs was a rather threadbare return…
Fast forward the best part of twenty more years, a live album, an album Steve Summers put out with Lesli Sanders under the name Pretty Boy Floyd ‘Size Really Does Matter’ (that really was rather good but for me more of a Sanders album) and here we are with ‘Public Enemies’ and a reuniting of Steve and Kristy and with a cameo by Keri Kelli (on background vocals only). You could argue his is probably what the second album should have been?
So with all that out of the way – is it any good?
Well to be honest it’s a mixed bag. Discarding the ‘intro’ ‘S.AT.A.’ the first real track ‘Feel the Heat‘ starts with machine guns and ticks a lot of Glam Metal boxes without really sounding like the second-coming. There’s a shot of vintage Motley and it’s aimed in the right direction but like a lot on the debut it falls just short. ‘High School Queen’ that follows though is more interesting, this is retro-Glam with a more laid back Poison-like vibe and as it doesn’t try too hard it works, as does the ‘Girls All Over the World‘ which is lighter, airier and has a cool refrain. I’m starting to get convinced… this IS fun.
‘American Dream‘ adds more Motley in the verses and sports a nice chorus that probably could have done with bit more work and that really is the crux of the album it’s not THAT far away from being a great record just a refined lick here and there and a few hookier choruses and we’d be cooking but as it is it just seems that ‘close enough is good enough’. Obligatory ballad ‘We Can’t Bring Back Yesterday’ even sounds a bit tired which is a shame almost as if the title was enough.
Like I said tough it’s not at all bad and ‘We Got The Power‘, and ‘Do Ya Wanna Rock‘ are both rockers I found myself coming back to for more, the former especially has a great hook and nice “top down summer night drive to the beach” feel. Run For Your Life‘ which sees all that promise come together, it’s a song that sounds gloriously like second album Motley Crue and just like you could imagine the band recording in 1990 for that follow-up.
Shock The World‘ returns to the tried and trusted and isn’t half bad, sounding like a Poison ‘Look What the Cat Dragged In’ outtake. ‘Paint It On‘ adds more of the same with with a softer edge and a little less imagination, before a rather cool breakdown (more bells please). ‘7 Minutes In Heaven‘ is sadly the only real dud but it’s more than made up by the lively ode to groupies ‘Star Chaser.‘
‘So Young So Bad‘ a cover of the Starz classic isn’t the way I expected this is close but it isn’t a half bad way either.
If the album just misses that ‘great’ tag it’s in the production and the fact that a lot of the songs just flow together with no real fireworks or breaks. Given little more ‘over the top’ treatment and a little more spit and polish this could well have made a few more waves. As it is it’s an album I’ll take four or five songs from to enjoy in the years to come, a little like I did with that debut. The fans though will love this as it is that album they always promised to deliver albeit almost 30 years after the fact…
TRACKLISTING: S.A.T.A. | Feel The Heat | High School Queen | Girls All Over The World | American Dream | We Can’t Bring Back Yesterday | We Got The Power | Do Ya Wanna Rock |Run For Your Life| Shock The World | Paint It On | 7 Minutes In Heaven | Star Chaser | So Young So Bad
BAND MEMBERS: Kristy Majors, Guitars, Bass, Background Vocals | Steve Summers – Vocals & Background Vocals | Chad Stewart – Drums & Back Ground Vocals | Keri Kelli- Background Vocals
Pretty Boy Floyd Links:
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