ADD LINK! Glam & Sleazy Rock veterans JETBOY inked a deal with Demon Doll Records to release a their first ever Greatest Hits compilation CD entitled “Now and Then”. Comprised of the band’s strongest material from 1986 to present, “Now and Then” gives fans a collection of remastered Jetboy tunes that will satisfy their every taste, including a previously unreleased track.
As requested, here’s the currently no easy to find CD featuring 14 tracks which drips Glam, Blues, Sleazy and Punk that fans have come to expect from the legendary San Francisco bad boys. “Now and Then” pushes the envelope with remastered versions of their biggest hits, “Feel the Shake”, “Make Some Noise” and “Snakebite” from their 1988 Billboard Charting debut “Feel the Shake” as well as “Stomp It (Down To The Bricks), “Evil”, “Heavy Chevy” and “Bullfrog Pond” from their 1990 Sophomore Release “Damned Nation”.
Jetboy’s distinctive sound will hearken you back to the late 80’s and early 90’s with the new whiskey soaked, groove oriented tracks “Going Down (Above the Clouds)”, “Perfectly Wrong” and “Dogs Gotta Roam” as well as cutting loose the brand new, never released ass kicker “Dying Inside”.
Jetboy is one of those bands that seemed to always be on the cusp of breaking out. These guys had a huge following in their native San Francisco as well as a strong support base on the Sunset Strip back in the mid-80s, managed to get several songs on movie releases (five different tracks from the Feel The Shake album were spread out between Tom Hanks’ movie The Burbs, and the lesser-known Tony Danza flick, She’s Out Of Control), and scored a couple of decent video hits on MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball.
But between the death of original bass player Todd Crew (found dead in Slash’s hotel room…), and the grunge phenomenon of the early-to-mid-90s, Jetboy never managed to get the traction that was necessary for them to fully hit the big time.
Too bad, as Jetboy was one of the more original sounding bands of the era,.
Probably as well known for front man Mickey Finn’s sky-high mohawk as they were for most of their musical catalog, Jetboy combined the glammy edge of bands like Hanoi Rocks and the New York Dolls with the punk and sleazy look of a lot of the underground Hollywood bands. As such, their sound was a hybrid that always came off as fresh and original.
On this collection, Demon Doll manages to capture the best of the band, for the most part, with seven tracks coming from the band’s two major label releases, 1988’s Feel The Shake and 1990’s Damned Nation. “Feel The Shake”, “Heavy Chevy”, and “Evil” are the band’s bigger songs, at least as far as airplay goes, and “Stomp It (Down To The Bricks)” and “Make Some Noise” are a couple of the band’s more popular songs with their fans.
Personally, I was really happy to see “Snakebite” included here, as I think it’s one of the best songs in the band’s catalog. “Bullfrog Pond” was an interesting inclusion as well.
What really makes the album is the inclusion of the hard-to-find EP Off Your Rocker studio tracks and the previously unreleased “Dying Inside”. All four of these songs are very much in the vein of the harder-edged material that made Jetboy popular with their fans… and maybe kept them off of radio… with Finn’s gritty vocals and the guitar tandem of Rowe and Rod still ripping things up.
With no ballads to bog this collection down, ”Now And Then” is a full-tilt rock collection that I think casual fans will find a lot to like about and one that will give new listeners a solid cross-section of material to choose from.
01 – Dogs Gotta Roam
02 – Going Down (Above the Clouds)
03 – Perfectly Wrong
04 – Stomp It (Down To the Bricks)
05 – Heavy Chevy
06 – Evil
07 – Bullfrog Pond
08 – Feel the Shake
09 – Make Some Noise
10 – Snakebite
11 – One Night Stand
12 – I Wanna Be A Millionaire
13 – No Limit
14 – Dying Inside (Unreleased Track)
Mickey Finn – Vocals, Harmonica
Fernie Dog – Lead & Rhythm Guitar, Vocals
Billy Rowe – Lead, Rhythm Guitar & Slide Guitar, Vocals
Jesse Mendez – Drums
Jes Reckless – Bass, Vocals
Sam Yaffa – Bass (Tracks 4-10)
Michael Butler – Bass (Tracks 1-3, 14)
Doug Hovan – Drums (Tracks 1-3)
Ron Totenson – Drums (Tracks 4-13)
Tim Huthert – Drums (Track 14)