Country: United States Raised during the ’80s debauchery on the Sunset Strip and still going strong in 2022 – Jizzy Pearl’s LOVE/HATE are ready to release its new album ”HELL, CA” next weekend. The record is a collection of 10 hard-hitting rock anthems, all with that distinctive Love/Hate style, with Jizzy Pearl’s trademark vocals taking the songs up and beyond and the heavy guitars doing the rest.
LOVE/HATE released two of the finest albums of the whole glam/hair metal movement, just as the world was moving on and embracing the dour slurry of grunge instead. Both “Blackout in the Red Room” and “Wasted in America” stand up just fine today, too: snotty, balls-out rock records, full of great songs and palpable attitude.
Thirty years on JIZZY PEARL has assembled a fresh line-up worthy of the band’s name and made an album that very nearly matches the priapic energy of those aforementioned classics. ”HELL, CA” is a big, brash and belligerent rock ‘n’ roll album, and Pearl sounds exhilarated to be part of it.
This is an exercise in keeping in the classic LOVE/HATE style. “One Hot Minute” is the archetypal rock album opener; heavy funky and fast-paced, it tells you everything you need to know about LOVE/HATE’s musical intentions, while also sounding like a mass brawl in some sleazy, shitpot bar. Job done, you might say.
From then it’s simply a matter of LOVE/HATE doing what they always did, albeit with more sonic muscle than those old albums were ever afforded.
“Acid Babe” is an impossibly groovy strut through lysergic visions of sex and scandal; “Gonna Take You Higher” is all sinewy, glam rock riffs and psychedelic scuzz; “Soul Mama” is a swaggering, AC/DC-style hoedown; “When You Gonna Come Home” is a wonderfully rowdy and loose-limbed Southern rock anthem.
None of it is remotely unexpected, of course, but the quality of these songs more than justifies the price of admission. Throughout it all, Jizzy Pearl sings his veteran head off, still sounding like he’s had far too many late nights and nailing every hook with ill-disguised glee.
It takes a certain musical intelligence to make music as straightforward and familiar as this without descending into lazy pastiche or parody. “Hell, CA” is a serious comeback and a hugely enjoyable surprise.
Back in 1990, LOVE/HATE kicked more ass than most. When it comes to straight-ahead rock ‘n’ roll, they still do.
Tracklist:
01. One Hot Minute (03:41)
02. Acid Babe (03:51)
03. Gonna Take You Higher (04:02)
04. Soul Mama (04:00)
05. Hard to Say Goodbye (03:27)
06. When You Gonna Come Home (04:42)
07. Last Chance (03:32)
08. Bruised and Battered (04:53)
09. Wanna Be Somebody (03:02)
10. Lonely Days Are Gone (05:50)
Jizzy Pearl’s Love/Hate – Hell, CA (2022)
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