Pat Boone - In A Metal Mood - No More Mr. Nice Guy - review
Pat Boone - In A Metal Mood - No More Mr. Nice Guy - review
Band
Pat Boone Release date
1997 Tracklist
01. You've Got Another Thing Coming [Judas Priest cover]02. Smoke On The Water [Deep Purple cover]
03. It's A Long Way To The Top [AC/DC cover]
04. Panama [Van Halen cover]
05. No More Mr. Nice Guy [Alice Cooper cover]
06. Love Hurts [Nazareth cover]
07. Enter Sandman [Metallica cover]
08. Holy Diver [Dio cover]
09. Paradise City [Guns N' Roses cover]
10. The Wind Cries Mary [Jimi Hendrix cover]
11. Crazy Train [Ozzy Osbourne cover]
12. Stairway To Heaven [Led Zeppelin cover]
A review by
BitterCOld April 01, 2010
Wait?
What?
Pat Boone? Doing Judas Priest? Big Band style?
Yes. And Pat works over plenty of other classic rock and metal legends as well - AC/DC, Metallica, Dio, Hendrix, and the self-proclaimed "Prince Of Darkness" himself, Ozzy Osbourne as well in 1997's In A Metal Mood - No More Mister Nice Guy.
I'm sure at this point many of the too tr00 crowd that take metal far too seriously are frothing at their keyboard, steam shooting out their ears, and spiked black panties in a wad. If you are one of them, just hit the "back" button on your browser now, lest you get your poor feelings hurt.
So back to the album - Pat takes 12 classic rock/metal anthems and ballads, giving them a retro-fitting big band and jazz style. The concept might leave a lot of people scratching their heads and wondering, "why?" Truth be told, it's not really that far fetched, it's almost as if Boone's career went full circle. He started out by performing "safe" covers of black R&B artists who were too "dangerous" for the white section of the audience. (What? Blacks on the radio? Won't somebody think of the children?! Think of the children!)
So decades later, he went full circle, providing some "safer" interpretations of "dangerous" metal artists, that the likes of the PMRC (resume "Think of the children!" ranting) had targeted. And now, as with then, he still managed to offend the puritans - both the religious types (he was dismissed from the Gospel America TV show after showing up at the American Music Awards in the aforementioned leather duds to promote the album) and the metal types? see, metal and religion have something in common - sanctimonious asshats who take themselves so seriously they just cannot take a joke.
Pat did this album with a smile on his face. You can tell just listening to it.
The first couple runs through, those who get the joke are likely to really enjoy this album. It's a lot of fun given the novelty factor? just what will "Crazy Train" sound like? What will he do with "Paradise City?"
Pat is a good crooning vocalist well suited for this style. Duh, he hasn't sold 35,000,000+ albums for nothing, and he delivers. There is attitude on his delivery of "You've Got Another Thing Coming", and he comes across as quite sympathetic and understanding in his rendition of Nazareth's sappy ballad "Love Hurts." His honest delivery is utterly fantastic in "No More Mister Nice Guy", particularly with the opening lines: "I've got a bad reputation/And I don't know why/I brush my teeth/I comb my hair/I go to church/I'm a really nice guy" - it's simply perfect because, well, that sums the real Pat up in a nutshell.
The biggest issue is after several listens the novelty has worn thin, leaving some of the tracks as just "meh"? however, even after repeated listens, some of the tracks still do stand up and are really enjoyable. "You've Got Another Thing Coming" is still an anthem, even with the axes exchanged for horns, "Paradise City" is still a good time, and "Holy Diver" is awesome, particularly with the brass managing to capture the urgency of that great guitar line. For a fun juxtaposition, you can check out the Pat Boone musical version synched up beautifully with the original video by Dio, who did make a cameo appearance providing backing vocals to Boone's take at his own classic.
So if you've got a sense of humor, think metal covers of pop songs are amusing and are intrigued by that concept in reverse, give this one a listen. You'll find yourself tapping your toes and snapping along.
* ok, you don't actually hear the chopper, but he is pictured on one.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 9 |
| Production: | 8 |
Written on 01.04.2010 by
Written on 01.04.2010 by
BitterCOld has been officially reviewing albums for MetalStorm since 2009. Comments
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| soadbyob
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Posts: 13427 Written by [user id=36287] on 01.04.2010 at 20:05 Don't you dare bad-mouth Bruce Springsteen! I'll have you know I'm actually a massive fan of The Boss (no joke, check my collection). He's the best musician ever.
---- SLUDGE. DOOM. DEATH. Wait, what?  "The reason I'm running for president is because I can't be Bruce Springsteen." - Barack Obama
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Posts: 10108
I really love the Pat Boone metal covers. i hope this doesn't turn out to be another april fool's gag and the review will stay here. after all, if Children of Bodom covering "Oops i did it again" or the millions of other covers of pop songs, including the metal tribute to Abba weren't blasphemous, why should the reverse be? oh wait, i'm on a metal site... errr.. DEATH TO ALL BUT METAL! WIMPS AND POSERS LEAVE THE HALL!
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| soadbyob
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| soadbyob
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| soadbyob
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Posts: 469
To those who are wondering: yes, this is a real album. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:kxfpxqthldde
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| Valaskjalf
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Posts: 86
I remember listening to this album back in the late 90s... Awesome shit! And for those that love the big band lounge acts, check out Max Raabe. His cover of Britney's "Oops I Did It Again" blows that lame ass cover done by that fruity-toot-toot band, Children of Boredom, out of the water...
---- The Mao loves you all!!! **KISS**KISS**
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| Posts: 15360 |
Posts: 15360 Written by Valentin B on 01.04.2010 at 20:33 the review is real. i own the album and do like it from time to time. the Priest cover is actually on my jogging mix. i did bump it off the front page as it is an old release - i only put it there as the timing worked perfectly with our "April Fools" plans. I'd actually completed the review several days ago, but held off figuring it would appear to fit in nicely with our prank. Richie Blackmore also appears on this release...
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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Posts: 9632
This is it, the review that broke MS
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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