Hanoi Rocks – The Days We Spent Underground 1981-1984 (5CD set)

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Like many pioneers, Finland’s Hanoi Rocks got usurped by those who followed and streamlined their approach for mass consumption. Take a look at Guns N’ Roses, The Dogs D’amour, Poison (or, indeed, any sleaze metal band) and you’ll find this Helsinki quintet at their core. Much copied they were, but none partied harder, looked half as good, or had the same panache as Hanoi Rocks. Collecting four studio albums and a blistering live set, The Days We Spent Underground, captures the band at their peak, and perfectly illustrates why they were (and still are) so highly regarded.

Disc One: Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Hanoi Rocks (1981)

Released at a time when heavy metal was defined by “serious”, solemn bands such as Black Sabbath and Rush, Hanoi Rocks made for strange bedfellows. Perhaps it was because they were detached from those times that they still sound timeless, but whatever the reason, their 1981 debut album, Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Hanoi Rocks, still sound good, and refreshingly so. Setting the template for what would become known as glam metal, it’s a hard album, but with a melodic sensibility that bestows instant earworm status on each of the ten tracks. With a riff that is nectar of the gods, ‘Tragedy’ was the first the world heard from Hanoi Rocks, it’s the type of song that magically turns the listener into a rock star, and would make the perfect soundtrack to all sorts of Saturday night tomfoolery. While much glam/sleaze can sound lightweight and vapid, there’s an emotional depth to cuts such as ‘Don’t Never Leave Me’ and ‘Cheyenne’ that set the band apart from their peers. But mostly this album smokes with the likes of ‘Village Girl’, the spiky and angular ‘Lost In The City’, and the staccato riff found on a live rendition of ‘11th Street Kids’. Debut albums rarely come as fully formed as this effort, and it did exactly what it said on the tin: Hanoi Rocks.

Disc Two: Oriental Beat (1982)

Following their debut album by a calendar year, Oriental Beat didn’t miss a step, if anything Hanoi Rocks sound even more confident, and riding the back of their critically-acclaimed debut. That confidence immediately comes to the fore on the punchy opener ‘Motorvatin’’, a track that’s driven forwards by Sam Yaffa’s brilliantly buoyant bassline. The experience from recording their debut has rendered Oriental Beat an album that ebbs and flows perfectly between raucous rockers and slower tracks. The song writing has stepped up a notch too (with vocalist Michael Monroe contributing words to a few tracks), and ‘No Law And Order’ could easily slot onto London Calling (if the Clash had been weaned on the New York Dolls, that is) and as with London Calling, Oriental Beat tries on lots of different clothes and revels in its own diversity. Hanoi Rocks would later express dissatisfaction with Pete Wooliscroft’s production, and while it does sound thin and reedy, such is the quality of the songs that it still holds up very well. Disowned by the band, but adored by fans, Oriental Beat’s appeal lies somewhere in between.

Disc Three: Self Destruction Blues (1982)

Collecting choice singles (and associated B-sides) from 1980-1982, Self Destruction Blues makes for an enjoyable (and educational) listen. Many of these tracks were only issued in Scandinavia, yet their influence spread globally. That influence can be best seen in Guns N’ Roses who adopted their look wholesale, were going to include a cover of ‘Beer And A Cigarette’ on their The Spaghetti Incident? covers album, while the title of the Gunners debut album shares a striking similarity to this (i.e. Appetite For Destruction). Listening to the dozen cuts that comprise this compilation, it’s so easy to hear why other bands pilloried their style. There was something very dangerous about Hanoi Rocks in their prime. They were like a car with two accelerators (and no brakes) that was on a collision course with a brick wall. While many bands cultivated such an image, Hanoi Rocks had the songs to back them up, and the heavy blues of the title track and the amphetamine buzz of ‘Problem Child’ make Self Destruction Blues a jewel in their crown.

Disc Four: Back To Mystery City (1983)

While Hanoi Rocks influenced countless bands, they also had their own inspirations too (New York Dolls and Alice Cooper immediately spring to mind) and those influences came bursting to the fore on Back To Mystery City. Bringing in Mott The Hoople’s Dale Buffin Griffin and Pete “Overend” Watts as producers was a wise move, and they rectify the wrongs found on Oriental Beat. The band sound far more muscular with ‘Malibu Beach Nightmare’ being delivered with the kind of British boot boy stomp previously only found on Slade and Sham 69 records. Part of the credit for the band’s newfound power comes from the addition of drummer Razzle, and he hits the skins particularly hard and his very presence has brought an aura of heaviness that’s caused the rest of the band to respond in kind. Razzle is the glue that holds songs like ‘Tooting Bec Wreck’ together, and when he died in that infamous car crash in 1984 it was no surprise that the band fell apart. Back To Mystery City offers a tantalising glimpse of what the future could have been.

Disc Five: All Those Wasted Years (1984)

Recorded at London’s famous Marquee Club in December 1983, and released the following year, All Those Wasted Years finds the Hanoi Rocks in their natural habitat. With new drummer Razzle firmly ensconced in the group, they deliver a live set that’s the sound of a mob fighting for their life, and with their backs to the wall. A surprise cover of The Chantays’ ‘Pipeline’ opens the show but it turns out to be the perfect vehicle for guitarists Andy McCoy and Nasty Suicide to display their chemistry. The band plough through a “greatest hits” set that calls at all points of their career, with all the songs becoming far heavier in the live environment, and those that were shackled on Oriental Beat are now set free and delivered with the requisite punch. Some choice covers close the set (including Alice Cooper’s ‘Under My Wheels’ and The Stooges’ ‘I Feel Alright’) attesting to the band’s roots and bringing this box set nicely full-circle.

With a legacy that far exceeds record sales and other measures of “success”, Hanoi Rocks never got the credit they deserved (outside a select few in the “know”). If anything could rectify that anomaly, then its surely this this beautifully presented box set, The Days We Spent Underground.

Track List:

Disc One: Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Hanoi Rocks (1981)

  1. Tragedy
  2. Village Girl
  3. Stop Cryin’
  4. Don’t Never Leave Me
  5. Lost In The City
  6. First Timer
  7. Cheyenne
  8. 11th Street Kids
  9. Walking With My Angel
  10. Pretender

Disc Two: Oriental Beat (1982)

  1. Motorvatin’
  2. Don’t Follow Me
  3. Visitor
  4. Teenangels Outsiders
  5. Sweet Home Suburbia
  6. M.C. Baby
  7. No Law Or Order
  8. Oriental Beat
  9. Devil Woman
  10. Lightnin’ Bar Blues
  11. Fallen Star

Disc Three: Self Destruction Blues (1982)

  1. Love’s An Injection
  2. I Want You
  3. Cafe Avenue
  4. Nothing New
  5. Kill City
  6. Self Destruction Blues
  7. Beer And A Cigarette
  8. Whispers In The Dark
  9. Taxi Driver
  10. Desperados
  11. Problem Child
  12. Dead By X-Mas

Disc Four: Back To Mystery City (1983)

  1. Strange Boys Play Weird Openings
  2. Malibu Beach Nightmare
  3. Mental Beat
  4. Tooting Bec Wreck
  5. Until I Get You
  6. Sailing Down The Tears
  7. Lick Summer Love
  8. Beating Gets Faster
  9. Ice Cream Summer
  10. Back To Mystery City

Disc Five: All Those Wasted Years (1984)

  1. Pipeline
  2. Oriental Beat
  3. Back To Mystery City
  4. Motorvatin’
  5. Until I Get You
  6. Mental Beat
  7. Don’t Never Leave Me
  8. Tragedy
  9. Malibu Beach Nightmare
  10. Visitor
  11. 11th Street Kids
  12. Taxi Driver
  13. Lost In The City
  14. Lightnin’ Bar Blues
  15. Beer And A Cigarette
  16. Under My Wheels
  17. I Feel Alright
  18. Train Kept A Rolling

1 COMMENT

  1. The Live Album is called “All the WAISTED Years”, at least in Finland, which says it all to me.

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