Michael Monroe – The Best (2CD via Spinefarm Records)

Singer, harmonica player, saxophonist and occasional dabbler in guitar and bass, Michael Monroe is perhaps best known as the frontman of glam rock legends Hanoi Rocks. A role that made him the first genuine Finnish rock star.

Hanoi Rocks originally formed in the late 70s and recorded between 1981 and 1984, being a major influence on the likes of Motley Crue and Guns’n’Roses.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of his first solo album ‘Nights Are So Long’, Spinefarm issue this 2CD retrospective that also features several new tracks and it shows how his solo career has made him as much the rock star as Hanoi Rocks did. Seeing him climb the scaffolding at the High Voltage festival, saxophone in hand, the consummate frontman.

Since Hanoi Rocks split in the mid 80s, Monroe’s solo career has gone from strength to strength, and at one point run alongside a Hanoi Rocks reformation. And as well some quality cover versions (MC5, Nazareth), he has also worked with some quality musicians. As well as two former Rocks members (bassist Sami Yaffa and guitarist Nasty Suicide), musicians include Ian Hunter, Little Steven, guitarists Dregan and Ginger Wildheart, and there’s Anton Fig and John Reagan to boot.

The set here opens with ‘Dead Jail Or Rock’n’Roll’, a blistering sleazy number from his 1989 album Not Fakin’ It, one of Monroe’s most successful albums. The harmonica is thrashed out in this high octane number. ‘Man With No Eyes’, taken from the same album, is a more melodic number with some decent searing guitar.

More balladic is ‘It’s A Lie’, a duet with Stiv Bators (Lords Of The New Church, The Dead Boys) that also features some stand out saxophone.  The debut album’s title track opens with some tribal drums and has a new wave feel to it.

Monroe’s 3rd album, Peace Of Mind, originally released in 1996, features tracks like ‘Where’s The Fire John’, some solid production and serious rocking.

1999’s Life Gets You Dirty saw Monroe sign with SPV and a stripped down line-up Monroe also play guitar. Tracks featured here include the cover of the Rocks’ ‘Self Destruction Blues’.

A number of tracks from 2003’s Watcha Want, including the wonderful ‘Stranded’, may be more mainstream than the familiar sleaze (there’s a hint of London Calling to the rhythm) but it’s a fantastic listen all the same.

With Ginger and Sami Yaffa part of a new look band for 2010’s Sensory Overdrive, there’s a rebirth and a return to Monroe’s sleazier roots; the vocal harmonies on ‘78’ for example, remind you of the garage, punk and rock’n’roll of the 70s that influenced Hanoi Rocks. With guitarist Dregen replacing Ginger, Horns And Halos was another excellent album and classic MM, as tracks like ‘Ballad Of The Lower East Side’ show.

Michael Monroe’s latest offering and 10th solo studio album, 2015’s Blackout States, is equally well represented.

The new tracks kick off with the single ‘One Foot Outta The Grave’, a thoroughly enjoy number with a melody and sleaze that fans will lov

Well worth checking out is the cover of Steppenwolf’s ‘Magic Carpet Ride’, featuring guitarist Slash. The guitars do stumble over each other a little, and the sound a little gritty, but it’s a great track. It’s a decent job of giving it their own stamp, which works.

The whole album sounds great and it’s equally a good introduction and good reminder of the gentleman’s catalogue.

Given how the catalogue has been spread across several labels and reissued sporadically, and with many a bonus track available (singles, live, a Japanese only EP), it would kick off a cohesive overhaul well.

8.5/10

Joe Geesin

Disc: 1

1. Dead Jail Or Rock N Roll

2. Man With No Eyes

3. It’s A Lie (feat. Stiv Bators)

4. Nights Are So Long

5. Can’t Go Home Again

6. Nothin’s Alright

7. Hammersmith Palais

8. You Crucified Me

9. Deadtime Stories

10. Where’s The Fire John?

11. Make It Go Away

12. Life Gets You Dirty

13. Self Destruction Blues

14. Stranded

15. Telephone Bill’s All Mine

Disc: 2

1. Trick Of The Wrist

2. ’78

3. All You Need

4. Ballad Of The Lower East Side

5. Eighteen Angels

6. Stained Glass Heart

7. Old King’s Road

8. Goin’ Down With The Ship

9. Keep Your Eye On You

10. One Foot Outta The Grave

11. Fist Fulla Dynamite

12. Simpletown

13. Get On

14. Magic Carpet Ride (feat. Slash)