Music Street Journal - Music News & Reviews

LA Guns Greatest Hits and Black Beauties Review by Brian Angotti With a brief and dissatisfying run with Jizzy Pearl of Love/Hate fame on lead and a revolving door of band members, L.A. Guns return with Greatest Hits and Black Beauties. The disc is a compilation of new tracks and re-recorded classic hits from the original band. Their first disc in almost five years with all original members gives straight forward rock and roll with a twist of electronica , and shows the maturity and growth of years together. The Guns did a summer tour stint with Poison, Ratt, and Great White but to disappointment of many fans. Now that original members Phil Lewis (vocals), Tracii Guns (guitars), Kelly Nickels (Bass), Mick Cripps (guitars), and Steve Riley (drums) have rejoined forces they have been on a club tour in support of Greatest Hits. This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: The Early Years Volume 3 at garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-The-Early-Years .

Track by Track Review

Bricks This is an instrumental lead in track with space rock oriented sounds and techno hooks behind the screaming guitars.

One More Reason A remake of a classic track from the band, this doesn't stray too far from the original version. This song gives you that early Motley Crue feel.

Ritual This one features less of a metal tone and more of a punk feel. It is reminiscent of very early Cheap Trick.

Electric Gypsy Another oldie that is updated to give a more modern feel. The bands influences come out strong on this song also.

No Mercy Fast-paced, hard-edged rock and roll, this song gives that signature L.A. Guns sound.

Sex Action A classic hit from the first album, this one is based on basic metal grooves.

Rip N Tear At times reminiscent of early Kiss, this is straightforward bang-your-head rock and roll.

Disbelief A very basic track, it's simple structure still makes you want to rock.

Ballad of Jane The band's biggest hit this one is still as good now as it was then. This track shows Tracii Guns' influence of his early days in Guns and Roses.

Time This track could have been recorded by Led Zeppelin. The track starts out sounding like "Traveling Riverside Blues" and becomes quite a bit like" Nobody's Fault but Mine".

Heartful of Soul This is a remake of the classic Yardbirds jam.

3 Minute Atomic Egg The progish, fast-paced intro leads you toa free for all of guitars and drums. This is definitely one of the strongest tracks on the album.

One More Reason Remix - Remix by Julian Beeston A dark and dynamic cut, again this one has that early eighties rock feel.

Sex Action Remix - Remix by Intra-venus This is a dance version of the classic hit. Lets hope they stick to plain old rock and roll.

You'll find concert pics of this artist in the Music Street Journal members area.

Return to the LA Guns Artist Page

Return to the Guns N' Roses Artist Page

Artists Directory

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
© 2025 Music Street Journal Site design and programming by Studio Fyra, Inc./Beetcafe.com