With a press release that states: “Hailing from San Francisco, California, MAD ANTHONY was hands down the BEST unsigned ROCK band of the mid-’80s packing MASSIVE grooves and KILLER hooks from stacks of Marshall amps.” a few things flick through your mind the first for me was ‘why haven’t I heard of them then’ but that was closely followed by ‘What an awful name for a band’.
On that basis the opener really needs to blow you away and sadly ‘Just My Type’ is not the song to do that. It’s OK, a decent rocker in the vein of Y&T or Dokken but without the killer hook or memorable riff. The Bluesier Great White meets Van Halen stylings of ‘Party Town’ are better but again quite derivative. The very Dokken opening of ‘I’m The One’ isn’t too bad either, but honesty after a few listens there’s nothing here in the first few tracks that really stands out for me or make me think that Mad Anthony was even one of the best unsigned bands of the mid-80’s that is until you hit track four.
The song that makes me wonder if they could have made it is the Quiet Riot meets Cinderella groove of ‘Mother’s Helper’ a song that stuck out at first listen. It may well be just as derivative as its predecessors and it may have a tongue in cheek subject matter but it just seems to sit perfectly with the vocal. ‘Falling Out of Love’ the slow burning number that follows it also really takes me. It’s not the definitive article by any means and sounds like it could do with more work but it’s a great idea: all of a sudden my opinion is changing – these guys are pretty damn good! And it’s all turned around in the space of those two songs.
Whilst there’s nothing really bad here there’s nothing after that really makes you sit up – the Van Halen-like grooves of ‘Backstage Boogie’ are fine, ‘Face To Face’ adds some grunt and is a fine song if a little cluttered and ‘Stay with me’ is a nice slower number, but you’ve heard better before. We round out the albums with some decent moments – ‘Tonight We Ride’ builds nicely and hits a nice groove, and ‘When We Touch’ has a nice uplifting feel before the rather cliched ‘Big Ole Long Red Hot Rod’ manages to pull off a great party groove!
That just leaves ‘Rock Me’ with its nice Van Halen sound and closer ‘Nadine’ which rounds things out with 44 seconds of jangling guitar and gentle wailing. Very odd indeed…
As for the name? I’m not sure whether it’s an homage to Michael Anthony of Van Halen fame or American Revolutionary War soldier Anthony Wayne or just some kid they knew from school…. Maybe we’ll never know.
7 /10
MAD ANTHONY Is: Rik Burnell – Lead Vocals | Ralph Longo – Electric & Acoustic Guitar | Mark Freseman – Guitar | Bryan Lujan – Bass | James Bohn – Drums
TRACK-LISTING: 1. Just My Type | 2. Party Town | 3. I’m The One | 4. Mother’s Helper | 5. Falling Out Of Love | 6. Backstage Boogie | 7. Face To Face | 8. Stay With Me | 9. Tonight We Ride | 10. When We Touch | 11. Big Ole Long Red Hot Rod | 12. Rock Me | 13. Nadine