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SHAMELESS
Beautiful Disaster

RSR Music (2013)
Rating: 8/10

Sordid, sickly glam rockers Shameless are somewhat of a who’s who of the rock ’n’ roll scene. The band were originally formed in Germany by bassist Alexx Michael in 1989, who is joined in this latest incarnation of Shameless by vocalist Steve “Sex” Summers (formerly of Pretty Boy Floyd), guitarists Michael Thomas and B.C., and sticksman Tod T Burr.

Over the years, this lipstick ’n’ leather outfit have reeled in more special guests on their albums than I’ve had hot dinners! The end product of course is that Shameless live up to their name, playing an insalubrious dose of hard rock and sleazy metal that brings together the expected yet always sprightly influences of T-Rex, Kiss, The Ramones, bubblegum pop, bouncy punk, and riotous rock.

Beautiful Disaster is the sixth opus from Shameless, coming two years after 2011’s Dial S For Sex. Thankfully it’s another catchy as hell, sleazy as fuck, 11-track after-show party that spends all of its lifespan stomping, spitting, spluttering and scratching like the dirty whore it wants to be, building its foundations on those sleaze-ridden yet jaunty guitars as well as Summers’ hairsprayed snarl.

The platter opens with the boisterous punkoid sauna that is ‘Greed Is God’, a track which is anthemic, commercial and given an extra dose of the fits by that fluttering bass. It’s strange that America boasted so many fake punk rock bands in the mid to late 90s, and yet it’s bands like Shameless who provide the genuine entertainment. Nowhere is this attitude more evident than on the snarling ‘You’re Not Cinderella’ and the pompous strut of ‘Forever Ends Today’ with its squeak riff and Faster Pussycat-styled smirk.

Shameless are about as party rock ’n’ roll as it gets, and the influences are there to hear, like on the stomping ‘Fiction & Reality’, which is pure Alice Cooper and hides a dark heart under that cracked smile.

‘Dear Mum’ is an unexpected ditty, because with that title I expected some corny 80s metal ballad, and yet I sense a sarcastic tone with this upbeat little rocker. The song also features the vocal talents of Cherie Currie (ex-The Runaways), who makes her first appearance on record since 1998! Currie also contributes to the ballad ‘You’re Not Comin’ Home’ and on a delicious reworking of the T-Rex classic ‘Life’s A Gas’.

Elsewhere, there is also a sublime piano-based version of the Alice Cooper classic ‘Eighteen’ featuring Tuff vocalist Stevie Rachelle.

Shameless are certainly not the band you’d bring home to meet your mum, but if you’re desperate to bridge the gap between 70s glam, 80s sleaze and modern punk-pop, then Beautiful Disaster is one orgy you need to participate in, whatever the consequences!

Neil Arnold

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