Once in a blue moon, an unknown band is able to harness perfection, even if for just a short amount of time. Cult legends SALTY DOG are one of those bands — a group that was able to latch onto a shooting star and go for a quick ride before crashing and burning.
The year was 1990, when hair metal ruled the charts, and Salty Dog came from nowhere to release one of the genre’s true gems; the album “Every Dog Has Its Day“. At the time not all was about hair metal. This CD is an old school, party till it’s four in the morning album… that comes with a spinning back kick of Hard Rockin’ relevance.
As requested, here’s the hard to find Bad Reputation Records remastered version, with a much more punchy sonic output than the reissues appeared later. With such classics like “Come Along”, “Ring My Bell” and “Where The Sun Don’t Shine” this is a CD that still needs to be heard by all hard / melodic / rock fans.
Formed in Los Angeles during the late ’80s but comprised of outsiders from a number of diverse locations, the band honed their chops in rehearsal studios, assembling a line up that would sound not only right together but also very different from what was happening on the strip.
Indeed, the band’s style incorporated a number of influences, from the old school bluesy Aerosmith-ish hard rock to the contemporary cut and thrust of Guns N’ Roses.
Salty Dog’s “Every Dog Has Its Day” received universal acclaim from critics, but failed to generate serious sales momentum. Produced by Peter Collins (Rush, Queensryche, Gary Moore) and engineered by British wunderkind Geoff Workman (Journey, Foreigner, Mötley Crüe) the music resonates with killer intention.
A sound that suggested the band would rightly take their place in the hard rock pantheon alongside true greats, but sadly that was not to be.
“Come Along” was Salty Dog‘s introduction to the record buying public and still goes down as their crowning achievement — you could even go so far as to say this song remains US sleazy hard rock’s pinnacle. I use the term ‘song’ loosely however as this number doesn’t follow the typical formula, devoid of any real chorus or structure. On this song is where whe say SALTY DOG was closer to melodic hard rock perfection.
It begins with a memorable bass pattern before being joined by a drum beat that would make John Bonham roll over in heaven with pleasure. The guitar riffs descend in and out with no real pattern before the voice kicks in with the infamous ‘sweet little baby, she’s my hotdog bun’ line.
The whole track swings along before exploding towards the finish… “Come Along” truly was, and still is, a work of pure, true hard rock genius.
The rest of “Every Dog Has Its Day” pales in comparison, not because the album is a letdown, but simply because “Come Along” is so damn perfect. “Cat’s Got Nine”, “Ring Me Bell”, “Where The Sun Don’t Shine”, “Heave Hard (She Comes Easy)”, “Slow Daze” and “Nothin’ But A Dream” are all great tunes in their own right, and could easily have been the standout cuts on a lesser band’s release.
Jimmi Bleacher possessed a voice that could strip the paint from your living room walls while the rhythm section of Michael Hannon and Khurt Maier worked off each other with pinpoint precision. Guitarist Pete Reeven kind of did things his own way, which made everything that much more interesting.
The bonus tracks present on this reissue showcases how the band evolved once they were harnessed within the studio. Among these there’s the previously unreleased “The Bucket Song”.
We all know and remember the groups that achieved massive success in the early ’90s, but it is often the forgotten warriors such as Salty Dog that really made that time in history so incredible. Of course, and thus adding to their legacy, Salty Dog self-destructed in part due to drug abuse and in-fighting. It was a tragic end to an outfit that showed so much potential as their music still hits hard after all these years.
This is a very good album by a damn fine band. It will be welcome in anyone’s music collection that ever thought about cranking it up to 11.
Highly Recommended
01 – Come Along
02 – Cat’s Got Nine
03 – Ring My Bell
04 – Where The Sun Don’t Shine
05 – Spoonful
06 – Just Like A Woman
07 – Sim Sala Bim
08 – Keep Me Down
09 – Heave Hard (She Comes Easy)
10 – Lonesome Fool
11 – Slow Daze
12 – Sacrifice Me
13 – Nothin’ But A Dream
BONUS TRACKS:
14 – Keep Me Down [Original Demo]
15 – Come Along [Original Demo]
16 – The Bucket Song [Unreleased]
17 – Ring My Bell [Original Demo]
Jimmi Bleacher – vocals, guitar, harmonica
Pete Reeven – guitar, background vocals
Michael Hannon – bass, background vocals
Khurt Maier – drums, percussion
additional musicians:
Geoff Workman – keyboards
The Waters Family – background vocals
Lenny Castro – percussion
Produced by Peter Collins
Engineered and mixed by Geoff Workman
SALTY DOG – Every Dog Has Its Day +4 bonus [Bad Reputation remaster], MP3+FLAC
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