Perris Records originally released this album way back in 2001 which is when I picked up my copy and over the years I managed to lay hands on a spare (yes it was that good) however it appears some have not been so lucky in tracking down a copy of that original so HighVolMusic have stepped in and remastered it whilst also taking the opportunity to add 3 bonus tracks too.
Sadly the digital promo copy I received didn’t have the three bonus demo tracks ‘Shotgun’; ‘Sunday’ and ‘Young Man Blues’ from the same session as the album so I can’t review them. But Rick Ruhl told me a couple of years back was originally intended as the band’s third album, but they were dropped by their label. The name ‘Backtraxx’ had always puzzled me thinking it might be older tracks dating back to before they had a major deal but no, these were the songs recorded in 1994 that were meant to make up the follow up to 1992’s ‘Wake up Screaming.’
Hearing it again now you can definitely date it to that period as there’s very little connection here to the songs of their debut especially. It is an interesting sound though, coming as it does post-Grunge when a lot of bands were searching for that ‘alternative’ sound. Had this been released back in the day it would have been interesting to see how it had fared though as Grunge was one of those movements rather like Punk in the 70’s that had to pretend to hate all that had come before and all it stood for, it’s unlikely a ‘Hair Metal’ band (not that that’s how I saw them) would have had the chance to shed its skin.
The interesting thing is that this actually might have worked, EMN were never really huge on the Hair Metal scene globally and the swift here is towards a kind of Southern-tinged mid-tempo Alternative Americana that still retains its heaviness. It’s not a million miles away from what some rather successful artists are doing today.
If I’m honest though it’s not all great, and I think part of that now, with hindsight, might be due to presumably the band being pushed by the label to chase that post-Grunge golden hangover. As a result some of the songs are pretty dark, some even a little dreary. Those songs however are in the minority. Tracks like “Southern Way;” “Ride the Train” and “Outside the Circle” are in my opinion worth the price of admission alone.
So if you like a little grit and attitude, a side of banjo and some Country scents then this collection of songs ain’t bad at all. The production too, though still not amazing, is way better than the original, you can only work with what you’re given of course.
If you’re a fan of the band then you may well want to grab this but if you want to hear the band at their best I’d still steer you to those first two releases or last year’s ‘The Grind’ album which more than proved that these guys still have a lot to say almost 30 years on.
