6/15/2008

THE CHERRY BOMBZ Coming Down Slow


THE CHERRY BOMBZ Coming Down Slow 1987 High Dragon records 320 kbps
Intro / House of ecstacy / 100° degrees in the shade / Pin up boy / Lifes been so hard / Oil & gasoline / Sweet pretending / Coming down slow / Gimme good loving / Hot girls in love / Ain't what you do / Travellin' band .
Recorded live at the Marquee Club , London - Produced by Alan Scott.
The Cherry Bombz : Anita : lead vocals / Nasty : guitar & backing vocals / Andy Mac Coy : guitar & backing vocals / Dave Tregunna : bass & backing vocals / Terry Chimes : drums .

What would you call a band that featured Nasty Suicide and Andy McCoy from Hanoi Rocks, as well as Dave Tregunna from Sham 69/Lords Of The New Church and Terry Chimes from various line-ups of The Clash and Generation X? A damn good idea. Throw in an attractive female vocalist--Anita Chellemah who cut her teeth in Toto Coelo--and you would think Rock and Roll Nirvana was right around the corner. Somehow it didn't work out that way, though. It's a little hard to pin point exactly why, but despite a lot of decent press and relentless gigging, the Bombz never quite ignited. Their sole long player was this live LP that was recorded at the Marquee in 1986. While "Coming Down Slow" doesn't completely answer the question of why this band flopped, it does showcase two failings of the group, and why they are known to this day as an Hanoi Rocks footnote. First and most glaringly are Chellemah's vocals. Her voice just can't carry this material. The bloozy/glam punk sounds that the band serve up cry out for a far stronger set of pipes. Chellemah sounds game enough and gets an A for effort, but this band really needed someone along the lines of Texacala Jones or Ann Wilson in her barracuda days. Chellemah sounds like she was plucked off the nearest bar stool, a generic female rasper.
Secondly, the songs are also a little on the forgettable side as well, with the exception of the title track and "Pin Up Boy". Imagine all the weaknesses of Hanoi Rocks and none of their strengths and you get the picture. Furthermore, four of the eleven proper songs are covers to begin with. What can you say about a band who upstage themselves with a version of Loverboy's "Hot Girls In Love"? (funny enough, but so what?). Someone should also have nixed their demolition of CCR's "Travellin' Band" as well. "Coming Down Slow" isn't horrible, but it is a sharp disappointment. Mostly I've held onto it all these years as proof that members of The Clash and Sham actually did wear bolero style finery and eye liner at one point. The band didn’t last much longer after this salvo and eventually morphed into yet another McCoy side project called The Wylde Ones, if my memory serves me correctly. I'm sure someone in Finland, where anything that has anything to do with Hanoi Rocks is immediately huge, could supply those who absolutely must know with a more detailed account of the band. For me, this is about all the cherry pie I need.

Artwork by MAX !

12 commentaires:

MIDNIGHT RAMBLER a dit…

The Cherry Bombz : Coming down slow
320 kbps + splendid artwork by Max !

Link 1:
Click on the cover or ...
http://rapidshare.com/files/
122660247/cherrySOTDbombz1.rar.html

Link 2:
http://rapidshare.com/files/
122658887/cherrySOTDbombz2.rar.html

Enjoy it !

Anonyme a dit…

DE LOS CHERRY BOMBZ TENGO UN DISKO KOPN SU EP DEL '89 + UNO EN VIVO EN EL MARQUEE DE LONDRES. ESTE ES LO MISMO???



KRISS

vex_voxtone a dit…

YEEEEAAAHHH!!!
I've been waiting for this one.
I think rock critics were never fair enough to the bombz. Yea Anita Chellemah was never Mike Monroe as a matter of fact no one can replace Mike, but this band was pretty decent and I rank em as one of the better post-hanoi projects.
THANX for posting this :))

Anonyme a dit…

That's a good description of the Bombz, but I think it applies to pretty much all Hanoi side projects and post-Hanoi bands. McCoy's great, but he rarely captured lightning in a bottle outside of Hanoi Rocks.

For me the Bombz justified their existence with the studio version of "House of Ecstasy." The songwriting is there for that one, and the performance ain't no rock-by-numbers. Check Youtube for the video, which I remember seeing twice on MTV back in '86. McCoy recorded the song again with Shooting Gallery, and *those* were some lame vocals (video also on Youtube).

Thanks for ripping this at a high bitrate --- the CD is damn expensive when it comes up on eBay!

-- Sleazy in SF

Anonyme a dit…

"Ain't what you do" originally made by finnish band Hurriganes, it's from their "Roadrunner" 1974 album, it's classic, pure rock'n roll, it's worth of checking out unless you have already made. Thanks for a great blog.
Check also: http://www.youtube.com/rinnetie

Positronic a dit…

Thank you for this jewel ...

MIDNIGHT RAMBLER a dit…

Kriss,
I don't know the EP you're talking about(on which label ?) ...if it's the same concert or not.This one was recorded in september 1986. There's also a DVD of the same concert (still available in many shops today )

Anonyme a dit…

KRISS,

There are two studio EPs, one from '85 released as both "The Cherry Bombz" and "Hot Girls in Love" and one from '86 called "House of Esctasy." There's also a CD from Japan that includes both EPs and this live show --- the complete Cherry Bombz, basically. The CD posted here is just the live show.

--- Sleazy in SF

Anonyme a dit…

ME GUSTARIA QUE SUBAN ALGO DE "THE LAST OF TEENAGE IDOLS" ES MUY DIFICIL CONSEGUIR MATERIAL
GRACIAS.




KRISS

Anonyme a dit…

Congratulations on your blog, you are doing a great job releasing all these lost gems.
Any chance to post some non live Cherry Bombz songs?

Thanks!

Anonyme a dit…

It takes all kinds... I personally tned to think that there is always something slightly wrong with all the Hanoi and Hanoi-related stuff, in spite of the good will, attitude, influence, tunes, whatever: the only exception being the two studio efforts by The Cherry Bombz. But yep, the live albums is a bit under-produced.

Oh well.

Great blog, and I couldn't say tis enough.

Anonyme a dit…

Thanks, I remeember the video for House of Esctasy on Toronto Rocks or MuchMusic, thought it was good, but I was spending all my money on thrash metal by then.

IF I never went for the fastest bands I could find, I would have bought more bands like this, since I liked a lot in the same vein- Kiss, Hanoi Rocks,etc