Motley Crue - Saints Of Los Angeles

Inspired by the band's 2001 autobiography, The Dirt, Motley Crue's ninth studio album, Saints Of Los Angeles - repackaged and re-released here to coincide with the band's first-ever Crue Fest DVD - sounds exactly how you might guess it would. That is, if you've read the book, or indeed have any prior knowledge of "the world's most notorious rock band" at all. From Mick Mars' over-indulgent guitar squeals and Tommy Lee's battering-ram grooves to Vince Neil's now digitally polished vocal whines - over everything from girls, sex and drugs, to, uh, girls, sex and drugs - it's all still here and accordingly feels a little contrived. If you are, however, willing to embrace the novelty of this nostalgia-fest, then Saints of Los Angeles will no doubt serve as ample speaker fodder. What's more, I challenge anyone to sit through tracks like This Ain't A Love Song or Chicks = Trouble without cracking a smile, or cracking up completely. [Ryan Drever]