Cats in Boots, Kicked & Klawed

Here’s part II in my “Why glam metal doesn’t always suck” ethos.

So, I’ve almost certainly got AD/HD– I almost never listen to an entire tune on iTunes.

Cats in Boots? I always listen, to the whole thing. I have to. It makes me. It rocks that hard. The riffs are that great. The lyrics are that clever. The vocal melodies are that infectious.

And seriously– the fucking band name is “Cats in Boots!” The album is called “Kicked and Klawed!”

It’s like they really, REALLY didn’t want anyone to take this record seriously– and the damn thing came out in 1989, and still haunts me….

Anyway, from what I remember, there’s a white American singer and drummer and a Japanese guitarist and bassist. Again, if I remember correctly, the two “sides” couldn’t really communicate through language and used mostly gestures during the recording of Kicked & Klawed.

I don’t know how, but that method totally, completely worked.

The riffs, and the solos (my God, the solos) on this bad boy are genuinely great– the solo in “Shotgun Sally” is, no shit, one of my top 10 of all time. Just a great, bluesy-yet-rocking, lyrically-memorable solo/ piece of music.

Highlights: “Shotgun Sally,” “9 Lives,” and “Her Monkey,”

The records gets less-necessary as the tracks pass by, but they’re all still great….

DIG, and maybe buy (Amazon link)