Artist: The 69 Eyes
Title: “Motor City Resurrection” (remaster)
Label: Cleopatra Records
Release Date: 4/3/20075
Genre: Glam Rock/Punk
Rating: 8/10
If you have only recently heard the music of The 69 Eyes and are enjoying their brand of Dark Gothic Rock & Roll, then this CD serves as almost the origin issue to their identity as a band. Reading interviews that have been conducted with lead singer Jyrki69 you will find a man whose band and sound are very influenced by early New York City Punk and the scene that surrounded it. This collection of band classics comes from a time before they adopted the Helsinki Vampire motif and if you were a fan of the sleazy Motley Crue and Pretty Boy Floyd sound you would find a lot in common with the stuff these guys were doing in the beginning. I admit that I found quite a few of the songs to be fun such as “Mrs. Sleazy” and “Stop Bitching!’” but the greatest appeal to me on this CD was the inclusion of all the covers that the band did. Hearing their respectful renditions of classics by KISS, The MC5, Glenn Danzig, Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop and The Stooges, The Dictators & The New York Dolls just truly painted the picture as to what exactly inspired this band. From this part of the collection I really loved the take on “Deuce” that was here since it is so dead-on. A good job is done on the Iggy tune “TV Eye” and the Dolls “Vietnamese Baby” also. As a New Yorker, I was particularly impressed in how influential this group thought my city and its early Punk scene was to their music. The album was originally released in 1994 and until recently only available as an import.
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Artist: The 69 Eyes
Title: “Blessed Be” (remaster)
Label: Cleopatra Records
Release Date: 11/21/2006
Genre: Gothic Hard Rock
Rating: 4/5
Even though this release from 2000 would be the bands fifth album I would have to say that If there is one release to own by the Helsinki Vampires then this is the one that is a must have without any question. With “Blessed Be” we find them moving a little bit farther from their Punk and Glam roots and delving deeper into Gothic with a healthy taste of Metal thrown in for good measure. As they fine tune the genre they will soon call Gothic Hard Rock to perfection we find the lyrical content and songs becoming all the more dark and at times sinister. This release is one of my favorites for in addition to stellar tunes like their anthem “Brandon Lee” and “The Chair” (which are guaranteed to become your instant favorites) we have “Gothic Girl. This quirky number and the subject of the song made the band become popular among that circle of their female demographic and had Jyrki 69 instantly become the dark god of the dreams that they held in their cold, Goth-Vampire hearts. “Velvet Touch” crunches along and has the most Metal feel of the tracks on this one and it’s a great change from the sleazier brand of Rock they had done in their earlier years. This modification to the band style and image would open far more doors for them going forward. The groups love of comic books and the occult finds several references to the film “The Crow” on the album along with the track Brandon Lee who starred in this same film which was also the cause of the Actors untimely and tragic death. Jyrki 69 sings in a lower register on most of the bands tracks and does a similar monotone to that of Peter Steele from Type-O-Negative. Fans of that band might really get into the brand of Rock that they deliver. If this is an introduction to you then there is no better place than to jump on board than with this one.
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