I remember buying this one back in the day, and the copy I have from 1998 changes hand for crazy money these days so this re-release on Deko is a welcome relief for fans who didn’t grab a copy at the time. As far as I can tell this is just a re-release of that same record, it states that it has been remastered yet sonically it’s pretty much the same and therefore well worth a listen. As someone who purchased Little Caesar’s first EP on import back in the day I’d certainly consider myself a fan of this band who stood out from their Los Angeles contemporaries in all the right ways taking Rhythm and Blues and Soul as an essential element of their Rock and Roll stew. Interestingly the music here stands up far, far better today than a lot of artists that jumped on the Glam bandwagon at the time these recordings were made.
‘This Time It’s Different’ is a collection of previously unreleased studio recordings and live performances from the band’s heyday featuring John Lennon and David Bowie guitarist Earl Slick (who when I met him a few years back was surprised and amused that all I wanted to talk about was his time in Litte Caesar). It has now been re-mastered and repackaged featuring never before seen pictures and brand new artwork.
Musically it’s gold from start to finish though of course not quite up to the standards of those first two records. Opening with ‘Hell to Pay’ which has that familiar drive and the groove of ‘Downtown Mama’ which of course is just an early version for what became ‘Down N Dirty’ on that classic first record, there’s no lack of quality.
‘Ain’t Got it’ from second album ‘Influence’ is an interesting take vocal-led take, and the slow groove of ‘So Damn Tired’ just drips Blues; whilst ‘Tell Me That You Love Me’ is a nice understated ballad. ‘Same Old Story’ gets us back to the rocking, whilst the jazzy intro and ZZ Top groove to ‘Old Enuff to Know Better’ is interesting enough.
The more straightforward ‘New Life’ is a cool, if not outstanding mid-tempo ditty and ‘All Revved Up’ gets a little funky and adds a gang vocal, but we close the studio selections with ‘Good Lickin” and a more direct take on Influence’s ‘Ridin’ On’ which I always had a soft spot for. It’s nice to go out with a reminder of just how good Little Caesar is live though and the collection goes out with a bang with teh song we already heard the demo for ‘Down and Dirty (Live)’ and another of Influence’s high points in ‘Ballad of Johnny’.
Upon its release 24 years ago ‘This Time It’s Different’ was a nice collection for fans with the band on hiatus and it’s great to revisit it now. Now it’s part of a rerelease schedule of Little Caesar’s later works that just underline how good these guys still are. Be sure to check out the other rereleases they are excellent.
8/10
CD Tracklist: Hell to Pay | Downtown Mama | Ain’t Got It | So Damn Tired | Tell We That You Love Me | Same Old Story | Old Enuff to Know Better | New Life | All Revved Up | Good Lickin’ | Ridin’ On | Down and Dirty (Live) | Ballad of Johnny (Live)