As live albums go this one is a keeper, and as someone who has seen the show live it’s a damned fine representation of what John and his band do onstage. For those of you who were there when Motley toured this back in the day musically this is both tighter and more muscular – ‘One Night in Nashville’ beats vintage Crue hands down.
The 12 album tracks from that self-titled release are reproduced here live faithful to the album’s running order, and Corabi adds a couple of short tales and an introduction to the band. Other than that there’s just the one additional track – ‘10,000 Miles Away’ the final word here (a bonus track which originally appeared on the Japanese version of Motley Crue’s ‘Quaternary EP’).
For those familiar with that EP from 1994 (essentially a collection of leftovers from the self-titled album) it’s a shame there’s no ‘Friends’ the track Corabi wrote by himself though it’s understandable as it was very much a piano-led song. More of a surprise is that there’s no ‘Babykills’ the song the band wrote together that rounded out the Japanese edition and which appeared on the 2003 re-release of the self-titled album along with ‘Hypnotized’ (a rather punchy B-Side) and ‘Livin’ in the No’ (a track I always though deserved a place on the album proper). In a recent interview with The Rockpit John told us that originally he had intended to include ‘Babykills’ but that he’d put so much into the Nashville show that his voice simply couldn’t go there and as they were only recording one show there was no chance to add to that set.
Whatever your feelings about the ‘Motley Crue’ album from 1994 this is a show that highlights some fine songs from a point in time when Grunge had all but leveled the Hard Rock of the late eighties with all its hairspray and excess. It’s a sound that shows that hard rock could progress, change and rise again despite passing fads and record labels chasing the dollar with no sense of rhyme nor reason other than landing the green.
Musically I liked ‘Motley Crue’ almost as much as their debut (the only album that allowed Vince Neil to get away with that voice) but if I’m honest as a Corabi fan I prefer almost all of his other work (from Angora, The Scream and Union all the way to The Dead Daisies.) Corabi showed what Motley Crue could have been with a real singer at the helm and more fool the band and the label for not sticking to their guns.
With a band comprised of John Corabi (Guitar/vocals), Jeremy Asbrock (Guitar/vocals), Phil Shouse (Guitar/vocals), Tommy Daley (Guitar) and Ian Corabi (Drums/percussions) the album was recorded live from The Basement in Nashville and contains no overdubs or backing tracks.
John Corabi “Live 94” (One Night In Nashville) is released on Friday, February 16, 2018.
TRACK LISTING
1. Power to the Music (Live)
2. Uncle Jack (Live)
3. Hooligan’s Holiday (Live)
4. Misunderstood (Live)
5. Loveshine” (Live)
6. Poison Apples (Live)
7. John Joins The Band (Live) *
8. Hammered (Live)
9. Til Death Do Us Part (Live)
10. Welcome to the Numb (Live)
11. Smoke the Sky (Live)
12 Here Is The Band (Live) *
13. Droppin’ Like Flies (Live)
14. Driftaway (Live)
15. 10,000 Miles Away (Live)
* John speaks to the audience
