My Amazon Reviews: Ratt "Tell The World: The Best of Ratt"

It's a Ratt Trapp Baby, and You've been Caught

3 Out of 5 Stars

During the halcyon days of Los Angeles Glam Metal, Ratt became one of the major success stories. Sporting a strong frontman and vocalist in Stephen Pearcy and a guitar master in Warren DiMartini (and second guitarist Robbin Crosby was no slouch, either), Ratt took advantage of the exploding MTV years and took a hard rock single Top 20. "Round and Round," featuring Milton Berle in the comic video, remains the band's high water mark, a single that captures the LA scene in less than four minutes. "Tell The World" makes the strategic decision to bury that song halfway into the CD, making you listen to a chunk of lesser songs before hitting the payoff. Like many of the bands from this period (think Motley Crue), Ratt worshipped at the altars of Van Halen and Aerosmith, but still liked the gritty, sleazy feel of Los Angeles.

The first two albums, Out of the Cellar and Invasion of Your Privacy, went top ten and multi platinum on that basis, and deservedly so. Songs like "You're In Love," "Lay It Down" and "You Think You're Tough" (inexplicably absent from this set) made for decent hard rock singles. However, like many bands in the genre, Ratt was of limited ideas. The next three albums delivered diminishing returns, with the dopey lyrical sexism becoming tedious and repetitious. When pressed, they could still deliver a good single (the stuttering riffs of "Dance" and the jazzy hard rock of "Way Cool Jr"), but filler was becoming predominant.

By the last album for Atlantic records, they were resorting to hired hitmakers like Desmond Child ("Shame Shame Shame" and "Lovin' You's A Dirty Job" being the two best of the crop), and took a hiatus soon after. "Tell The World" picks up where the previous "Ratt and Roll" left off, with a pair of songs from reunion albums ("Steel River" and "Over The Edge") plus an OK unplugged version of "Way Cool Jr." If you already have "Ratt and Roll" or Rhino's Ratt Essentials, you're probably set. If not, "Tell The World" is the best Ratt Trapp so far.