If you ever trusted candy, then Cherry Pie was a cool fave 15 years ago. The red, the willing, the groove, the video's 'daddy'. Less stressful years, enough thoughtlessness, great women who liked hard rockin' guitars... It's more due to some curiosity to see how the reunited Warrant are behaving in 2006 - not to leave aside the 'music' factor, of course - that this new album was sufficiently anticipated. Add the lack of original singer Jani Lane - a good fellow grabs the mic, though - and let's roll the fire.
Before: Love 'em or hate 'em, bands like Poison or/and Warrant knew how to write 'applicable' music with the least of effort back then. 'Softer' than Motley Crue, Twisted Sister or (even) Dokken, (mainly) Jani Lane's sparks were fresh enough to have the band's posters on nearly every teenager's room era '89-'91. Working with none other than Beau Hill for their 'Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich (1989 - two versions issued) debut, Columbia's profit from the sales was extremely good to finance the even better selling sophomore album, Cherry Pie, one year later. Shit, what a 'sweet' title-track audio/video that was! Naive yet groovy, simple yet ample (Data: Lane later married the video girl, 'actress' Bobby Brown; read it and weep...).
As known, the general sign of decadence for American glam Rock music in the early 90's also set Warrant out of scope blah blah blah. Still, both Dog Eat Dog (1992) and Ultraphobic (1995) are quality works I'd recommend to less 'party' people.
During: Devils Juice clears the jam in my mind. Vocalist Jaime St. James - the permanent singer of my beloved Black n' Blue back in the 80's - brings on his huge love for Kiss and ties the knot with Warrant's 'boy Rock' style. He really is - for anyone interested - the best anti-Lane choice. Warrant also seem to adapt a little bit of the 'straight-er' Black n' Blue sound, so as to produce titles like the opening track, Roller Coaster, Dirty Jack and Roxy. There's a damn good ballad in there, also - Glimmer is cute - but the general vibe of the album is to pick up the guitars, turn the volume up to a good level (not maximum) and getcha rocks off.
Of course, don't expect anything groundbreaking that will bring back the millions of such (once) fans. The world's not that mad - anyway - to bring back the 'filthy' silk and 'dry' perfume instead of the jump-along two-chord Nu stuff of today. Still, the mood is good, James does an excellent job, both axemen treat us right and the rhythm section is (as usual) trustworthy.
After: applicable for a car audition, Born Again has the fond to confirm its title. 'Rawer' than the average Warrant catalogue, this album shows much energy. Kiss, some of AC/DC, Black n' Blue and 'platinum' Warrant in one? Smells good! Honestly, I don't know what the result would be with Lane fronting.