Rough Cutt – Rough Cutt

Rough Cutt would eventually sign to Warner Bros, their debut LP released in 1985, produced by Tom Allom who had worked extensively with Judas Priest up to this point.

Written by: gdmonline

ARTIST: Rough Cutt
ALBUM: Rough Cutt
LABEL: Warner Bros
SERIAL: 25268
YEAR: 1985
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

LINEUP: Paul Shortino – vocals * Chris Hager – guitars * Amir Derakh – guitars * Matt Thorr – bass * Dave Alford – drums

TRACK LISTING: 01 Take Her * 02 Piece Of My Heart * 03 Never Gonna Die * 04 Dreamin’ Again * 05 Cutt Your Heart Out * 06 Black Widow * 07 Your Keep Breakin’ My Heart * 08 Kids Will Rock * 09 Dressed To Kill * 10 She’s Too Hot

WEBLINKS: Site Link

Background

Rough Cutt were another of the L.A hair metal brigade. The band were formed back as far as 1981, with its members being sourced from two principal bands: Mickey Ratt (which later became Ratt), and Magic.

There was a lot of band-hopping occurring back in RC’s early days, with members going on to significant gigs elsewhere.Guitarists Jake E Lee and Craig Goldy would leave to join Ozzy Osbourne and Giuffria respectively. Bass player Joey Cristofanilli would hook up with Jag Wire, while keyboardist Claude Schell would become Dio‘s ivories man.

Talking of Dio, both Ronnie and wife Wendy would have a significant impact on Rough Cutt’s fortunes, both in terms of song contribution and management.

Rough Cutt would eventually sign to Warner Bros, their debut LP released in 1985, produced by Tom Allom who had worked extensively with Judas Priest up to this point.

The Songs

It’s noticeable how the human heart is the predominant theme on this album. You see it on the album cover, plus there are three songs with the term in the songtitle while it is scattered among the lyrics of other songs.

Paul Shortino is a very powerful vocalist, and in places he sounds similar to Larry Baud (USA, Red Dawn). The dual guitar work from Hager and Derakh is very good too. It’s right up there among the other dual guitar pairings from L.A bands such as Malice, Armored Saint, Keel and Ratt.’Take Her’ is an inventive beginning, I like the unusual arrangement of this song.

The next two songs are covers. ‘Piece Of My Heart’ was made famous by Janis Joplin, while ‘Never Say Die’ was originally released by Australian band The Choirboys back in 1983, and was their first hit from their debut album.

Both ‘Dreamin’ Again’ and ‘Black Widow’ have a darker edge, no surprise these are Wendy Dio contributions.For me, the fiery ‘Cut Your Heart Out’ is Rough Cutt at their heaviest, and they sound great when the brakes are let loose.

‘You Keep Breakin’ My Heart’ is a reasonably sort of power ballad, Shortino’s vocals are a standout here, though his mostly shrill style can be grating after awhile. ‘Kids Will Rock’ is very much in the vein of Keel, similarly too ‘She’s Too Hot’, both hard rock anthems for the youth of the day.

In Summary

The band went on the road in support of the album, becoming the opening act for the likes of Dio, Krokus and Foreigner.. among others.

They would return to the studio, and release their second LP ‘Wants You’ in 1986.’Rough Cutt’ is a reasonable album, though it was overshadowed by other L.A acts at the time who were a bit further up the pecking order, as in Ratt and Dokken.

Video

Never Gonna Die