Album Review: L.A. Guns – Checkered Past
– By Rob Jones –
L.A. Guns is a legendary band that has had a pretty all over the place career with a long list of members who have been in the band, subtle to radical shifts in musical direction, and even times when two bands have operated under this band’s name. So with that being said, has there ever been a more appropriate title for one of their albums than Checkered Past?
I definitely think it fits their history perfectly. The definitive core of the band is guitarist, founder, and namesake Tracii Guns and singer Phil Lewis and while the band put out many albums where one or the other weren’t in the band together, Tracii and Phil reunited years ago and are putting out some great music.
Checkered Past manages to at once bring elements of what they’ve done over the years and also sound fresh and exciting. “Cannonball ” starts the album out with a tremendous straight-ahead rocker before injecting some blues into the riffs on “Bad Luck Charm,” and “Living Right Now” is another excellent rocker.
“Get Along ” Is a cool mellow track that falls somewhere between the Beatles and the lighter moments of Houses Of The Holy era Led Zepplin, “If It’s Over Now” follows that song up with a more melancholy song that is different from what I’ve heard from these guys in the Past. “Knock Me Down ” is one of the best hard rockers on this album which gives way to the best rocker on the album; in my opinion, “Dog” which could fit easily on their Cocked and Loaded album
The absolute star stunner on this album for me isn’t just the best song on Checkered Past. Still, one of my favorite L.A. Guns songs ever, “Let You Down,” is a dark power ballad that would’ve fit nicely on their album Hollywood Vampires; this song is chills-inducing and shows how well preserved Phil is Lewis’s range still is decades later. I recently saw them live, and I can tell you there’s no studio trickery here; the man is an incredible singer. “That Ain’t Why” would’ve fit nicely on their first album and is just the sort of biker bar rocker that made this band so great, to begin with.
Checkered Past illustrates well that while some of their contemporaries have lost their fire over the decades, L.A. Guns still have a lot left in them, If you have the opportunity I highly recommend going to one of their shows, they’re one hell of a great band live and Checkered Past is a great album definitely worth owning.
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