I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a total fan of Black N Blue, and will admit to listening to this lot only scarcely over the years, some say this was their best effort, even my frugal listening would confirm that this is not the case.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Black N Blue
ALBUM: Nasty Nasty
LABEL: Geffen
SERIAL: 24111
YEAR: 1986
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Jaime St James – vocals * Tommy Thayer – guitars, Jeff Warner – guitars * Patrick Young – bass * Pete Holmes – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Nasty Nasty * 02 I Want It All (I Want It Now) * 03 Does She Or Doesn’t She * 04 Kiss Of Death * 05 12 O’clock High * 06 Do What You Wanna Do * 07 I’ll Be There For You * 08 Rules * 09 Best In The West
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
Here’s a band we’ll eventually get to all their albums here at Glory Daze. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a total fan of Black N Blue, and will admit to listening to this lot only scarcely over the years.
But since the first two albums are written up already, it would make sense to finish the job, so we start with the completists project by looking at their third effort ‘Nasty Nasty’.
Some say this was their best effort. Even my frugal listening to BnB would confirm that this is not the case. Bringing in Gene Simmons as a producer was not the masterstroke that others saw.
The last thing the metal scene needed in 1986 was another Kiss clone. I’ll go on record as saying Black N Blue had enough talent and chops to stand on their own feet. However, with record sales not at a level to convince the bean-counters at Geffen, a third party was put forward, and the Ki$$ster became that man.
The Songs
So apart from the obvious glam metal references, how does ‘Nasty Nasty’ stack up? IMHO it’s good, but not great. Despite Geffen Records throwing a bucket of money at this lot, they could never quite climb out of the second tier, despite having four cracks at the prize.
They were always going to be compared against those ahead of them, including Bon Jovi and Ratt and soon-to-be glam metal upstarts Whitesnake who turned 1987 upside down.
If you’ve followed Black N Blue’s history from the 1984 era, their albums have been slightly different in each case. To me that sounds like a band not quite comfortable in their own shoes, or, they had a Management which didn’t quite know how to get the best out of them.
In any case, ‘Nasty Nasty’ wasn’t a box office success, peaking at #110 in the album charts. It was heavier than the preceding year’s ‘Without Love’, but that doesn’t mean it’s better. Simmons produced all but one track here, Journey‘s Jonathan Cain did one track, ‘I’ll Be There For You’, which does sound like the odd track out, a commercial affair which sounded like it should’ve been on ‘Without Love’.
In Summary
Black N Blue and Gene Simmons would reunite for 1988’s ‘In Heat’ album, but by then, Geffen had chucked in the towel and the band were sent on their way. Thayer had the most success going onto Harlow and eventually Kiss.
All was not over though in the Black N Blue camp, as they reformed for their 2011 album ‘Hell Yeah’, though it was probably eight years late as it was intended for a 2004 release, but was delayed due to Jamie St James hook-up with Warrant.
Black N Blue on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
