As requested, here’s last year Hear No Evil / Cherry Red Records 4xCD Box Set celebrating the 3 key albums + rarities from legendary hair metal glamsters FASTER PUSSYCAT during their major label time from the end of the ‘80s and early ‘90s.
Titled “Babylon : The Elektra Years 1987-1992“, the 4-disc collection include all albums remastered, a host of bonus tracks, and the EP ‘Live And Rare’ from 1990.
Forming in Hollywood in 1985, and taking their name from Russ Meyer’s 1965 exploitation trash classic, Faster! Pussycat! Kill! Kill! – Taime Downe (lead vocals), Greg Steele (guitar), Brent Muscat (guitar), Eric Stacy (bass) and Mark Michals (drums) were in the right place at the right time with their brand of sleaze rock and glam metal.
Signing to legendary record label Elektra, they released their self-titled debut on 7th July 1987 (two weeks ahead of Guns N’ Roses’ debut, ‘Appetite For Destruction’). Becoming MTV favorites with videos for the songs ‘Bathroom Wall’ and ‘Don’t Change That Song’, their fame and infamy was further propelled by appearing in the Penelope Spheeris film The Decline of Western Civilization part 2 – The Metal Years, with the band interviewed as well as performing ‘Cathouse’ and ‘Bathroom Wall’ on stage. In America the band toured with Alice Cooper, David Lee Roth and Motörhead to promote the album.
They reached a commercial peak in 1989 with second album, ‘Wake Me When It’s Over’. Featuring the singles ‘House Of Pain’ and ‘Poison Ivy’, the LP was marked by a heavier, less glam and a more hard rock approach. They also recorded a cover of Carly Simon’s ‘You’re So Vain’ for the compilation album ‘Rubáiyát’, an album celebrating Elektra Records’s 40th Anniversary.
Led by the single ‘Nonstop to Nowhere’, 1992’s self-explanatory ‘Whipped!’ fared well, but despite sold out tours, the rise of grunge was turning many of Faster Pussycat’s feel-good rock contemporaries out of the industry. The band called it a day in 1993.
FASTER PUSSYCAT reformed in 2001 adopting a more modern sound favored by singer Taime Downe, and continue to tour and record with various line-ups to the present. As recently as July 2022 Faster Pussycat announced signing to a new record label with the intention of releasing new music.
This collection is a must for fans of the Sunset Strip glory days: Guns N’ Roses, Ratt, L.A. Guns, etc.
Highly Recommended
Track Listing:
CD1: FASTER PUSSYCAT
Don’t Change That Song
Bathroom Wall
No Room For Emotion
Cathouse
Babylon
Smash Alley
Shooting You Down
City Has No Heart
Ship Rolls In
Bottle In Front Of Me
CD2: WAKE ME WHEN IT’S OVER
Where There’s A Whip, There’s A Way
Little Dove
Poison Ivy
House Of Pain
Gonna Walk
Pulling Weeds
Slip Of The Tongue
Cryin’ Shame
Tattoo
Ain’t No Way Around It
Arizona Indian Doll
Please Dear
CD3: LIVE AND RARE
Bathroom Wall
Poison Ivy
Pulling Weeds
Slip Of The Tongue
Babylon
House Of Pain
CD4: WHIPPED!
Nonstop To Nowhere
The Body Thief
Jack The Bastard
Big Dictionary
Madam Ruby’s Love Boutique
Only Way Out
Maid In Wonderland
Friends
Cat Bash
Loose Booty
Mr. Lovedog
Out With A Bang
BONUS TRACKS
Nonstop To Nowhere (CHR Version)
Too Tight
Charge Me Up
You’re So Vain