Steve Stevens - Atomic Playboys

Ah Steve Stevens. Back in '89, my buddy Bruce had this and said I absolutely had to hear Steve's cover of "Action." I've always liked that song, and it was indeed a killer cover. I would go out and buy the album based on that one song. I played it a couple of times looking for shiny songs to add to mix tapes. I found two: "Atomic Playboys" and "Action," and then more or less shelved it after passing judgment. It was a decent album with a fantastic cover, but it wasn't anything special. The CD is on a shelf in the studio where it's been sitting for a long time, and it never occurred to me that this was ever released on vinyl. Well, it was, and I found a copy ... a rather juicy mint copy at that, and it was cheap. The cover by H.R. Giger is as awesome as ever. Yes, he's the guy that designed the original Alien. I bought it. I'm a sucker. I have no regrets ... more on that as I go along.

It's been a while since I've sat and really listened to this one. For the most part, it's a pretty generic late '80s near glam metal offering ... with a twist here and there. It's good, but there's a reason it's more or less settled into cult status. If you're a Steve Stevens fan, you know, and if you're not, you don't.

I'm sort of in that hazy middle ground. As a player, Steve Stevens gets his props. He is a masterfully tasty player who knows what to play without getting overly noodly. To most people, he's the guy who was on Billy Idol's better albums. He was the not so secret sauce.

The problem with secret sauce is that it's one of those things that is an enhancer, and eating it all by itself isn't always palatable. I mean, when's the last time you ate ketchup by itself? Mister Stevens (see, respect) was no dummy, and while it's his name on the record, Atomic Playboys were a band, at least for one album. Steve recruited Thommy Price, who had played drums on Billy Idol's Rebel Yell, along with Phil Ashley, who played keyboards on Billy's Whiplash Smile. To put the cherry on top, he brought in vocalist Perry McCarty. Perry is at the core of the album, hence he's the other guy who got his picture in the credits. There's a sort of everyman quality to his delivery, but my goodness, the guy killed it. He never phoned it in, even on the songs I didn't care for. There's not a lot out there, which was kind of a surprise given how good the guy is.

While this will never be a desert island record, I have to admit this was way better than I remembered it being. I'm going to go track by track, and it's a simple pass/fail scoring system. Let's see how this plays out.

• "Atomic Playboys" what a great introduction. This was a song I remembered, and it was still as good as it was back in 1989.
• "Power of Suggestion" this is a bit of a weird one, sort of weird good, but mostly sort of weird. If you were to do that Sesame Street grid with the things that belong together, this is one of those things. It's actually kind of a grower, and the horns are cool. It reminds me of what Platinum Blonde was doing on Contact a couple of years earlier. I doubt he'd heard it, so it really makes no sense for me to name-check it.
• "Action" love this. It's why I bought the album.
• "Desperate Heart" it was the era of the power ballad, and boy howdy, this was so good. This is right up there with another 1989 killer, "I'll See You In My Dreams" by Giant.
• "Soul on Ice" has some trademark Steve Stevens fret silliness, but mostly I'll pass on this one.

Side one is a solid 3 out of 5.

• "Crackdown" as soon as this one kicked in, I was like, "Holy shit, I remember this one. This is awesome. How did I forget this? Apparently I did. Perry does a wicked Billy Idol impression ... I'm going to add this to a mix tape. No, I'm not kidding."
• "Pet The Hot Kitty" um, yeah, just going to move on. I've played the album several times, and this one does not get better with repeated plays. It does feature some great fret work, but that's me looking for a silver lining on a lead balloon.
• "Evening Eye" okay, one of two things has happened. I'm ear blind or I've lost my ability to discern shit from sauce. Neither scenario is helpful with this track. Filler at best. It's actually detracting from the overall experience at this point. I mean, I've been listening intently with an ear to highlighting the positive, so I'm really surprised at my reaction here. I suspect there's an audience for this on the adult diaper contemporary side of the ledger. I mean, it could be a genre. I don't know.
• "Woman of 1,000 Years" There is something about this one that keeps me coming back to it. In some ways, this is an odd track, but it's delivered with such gusto that you have to give the song a nod.
• "Run Across Desert Sands" In some ways, this reminds me of when Rik Emmett would have an instrumental moment on a Triumph record. The difference with Steve is that this isn't a solo piece; this is a fully realized composition with a world music beat. Too bad he opted for a fade.
• "Slipping into Fiction" Steve and Perry pull out the stops, going for the big rock ending. As far as bookends go, this was a solid way to close out the record.

Side two is an iffy 4 for 6.

Of course, I'm not really keeping score, and even if I was, who really cares? Oh, look, this guy gave it 7/11. What a wanker. You'd only be half right. My overall impression is this was a way better album than I remember it being, even if the numbers seem to tell a different story. There are a few absolutely killer songs, and so what if the rest is borderline fluffer fodder? This was good stuff ... of course, if you look too closely, the flaws emerge.

Still, no regrets.