Bullets And Lipstik

What I'd like to do first is start the review off by giving a little back story as to how I discovered Pretty Boy Floyd's album, "Bullet's And Lipstik"..... Back in 1989, during my days at the college radio station, I first became familiar with Pretty Boy Floyd's debut album, "Leather Boyz With Electric Toyz". It was a commercial metal/rock album that was a cross between Poison and Motley Crue. It had lots of songs with catchy choruses and a production where the guitar sound was heavy and rockin'. After that album I was very anxious as to what the next one would sound like. I didn't hear or get much feedback as to when another album would be released. One day I was searching through a CD catalog called Sound City 2000, which specialized in both domestic and import CD's. I was looking in the P section and saw "Pretty Boy Floyd ii". Immediately I thought, "WOW, Pretty Boy Floyd has a new album. Maybe I didn't hear about it because it's an import". So without hesitiation, I ordered it......... When I first received the CD, I put it in my player. As soon as the first song started playing, I realized something. The music didn't sound anything like the first Pretty Boy Floyd album, "Leather Boyz With Electric Toyz". I then looked at the CD booklet and noticed that the band members looked nothing like the guys on "Leather Boyz With Electric Toyz". The guys on this album were dressed in gangster like attire; ties, button down shirts, hats reminiscent of the gangsters such as Pretty Boy Floyd. I then took a closer look at the credits and saw that their fan club and merchandising was based out of Canada. In the end, I realized that this was a totally different band from the one that came from the LA Metal scene. Over time, "Bullets And Lipstik" grew on me to the point that I like it almost as much as Pretty Boy Floyd's (LA) "Leather Boyz With Electric Toyz" Pretty Boy Floyd (Canada) consisted of Sandy Hazard (drums), Tommy Floyd (vocals), Steve Bratz (bass) and Pete Parker (guitar). "Bullets And Lipstik" was released in 1989 on Bellaphon Records out of West Germany. It was recorded and mixed live at Gangster Studios in Vancouver, Canada. The live studio recording of "Bullets And Lipstik" gives it a raw and natural sound. Most of the guitar solo's are unaccompanied by a rhythm guitar. The music on "Bullets And Lipstik" is a cross between AC/DC, Kix and Ratt. The guitar player uses a power chord style that is similar to CC Deville of Poison. There's even some double bass drumming on a few of the songs like "4 For The Road" and "Proud To Be Loud". The titles of each song are part of the main choruses, which help the listener become familiar with the songs that much quicker. The lyrical content and rhyming is somewhat simple and corny; songs about women, booze, playing in a band, etc. It's sleaze rock ala Faster Pussycat. I was glad that I discovered Pretty Boy Floyd's "Bullets And Lipstik" by accident. It's too bad that this release didn't get more publicity as it is very underated and went almost unoticed. The the tail end of the 80's and the rise of Grunge music diminished the interest and attention that Commercial Rock/Metal was getting in the United States. I must say that if you are into Commercial Rock/Metal like Motley Crue, Ratt, Faster Pussycat, Poison, Pretty Boy Floyd (LA), than "Bullets And Lipstik" is a true diamond in the rough worth searching for. My guess is that it is long out of print.   UPDATE AS OF 4-02-03 Tommy Floyd, the former vocalist of Pretty Boy Floyd, recently sent me the following e-mail regarding some backround history on this album: Hey Jeff, Pete Parker emailed me your review re: Pretty Boy Floyd. Thanks for giving the release as a high a rating as you did. Thought I’d give you a little background on how our CD fell below the radar. Although Canadian, we were the original Pretty Boy Floyd prior to the inception of the LA Glam band of the same name. In 1988 we released and EP version of “Bullets & Lipstik” prior to the Bellaphon full length in 1989. The EP (and later the CD) received critical acclaim via Kerrang, Rip, Burrrn, Hit Parader, and Metal Edge etc. It was during this time, I picked up a copy of BAM Magazine from LA with a glam band advertising they were looking for a final member (guitarist) for their new project – Pretty Boy Floyd? I first called my lawyer (as we owned the trademark) and then called the band to inquire about the project. Assuming I was a guitar player looking for a gig, they answered my questions freely regarding where they came up with the name. Even boasting how they blatantly stole the name from some band from Canada. Shortly after they were signed to MCA (I’m sure somebody lost their job over that one). But as you can imagine, this created a bigger problem for our band. With the machine of MCA handing the publicity campaign for their act, we soon lost our own identity. What’s worse, the confusion it created was even worse. Here we were, a gangster themed hard rock act, seemingly on the rise and suddenly receiving hate mail from people who hated the LA glam band. Before long, no amount of legal maneuvering was worth keeping the name (it had been ruined). We settled out of court and were paid off by MCA prior to the LA bands CD being released. What happened then? As you can imagine, the band broke up and we all went our separate ways. I continued to perform in a number of bands and eventually went on to launch Outlaw Entertainment. We’ll be releasing Billy Butcher’s CD this summer. The band features Pete Parker of Pretty Boy Floyd (Canada). Best regards, Tommy Floyd President Outlaw Entertainment Int’l 101-1001 W. Broadway, Dept. 400 Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6H 4E4 info@outlawentertainment.com www.outlawentertainment.com   In addition, Tommy said that he's been getting alot of requests to re-release "Bullets And Lipstik", with the possibility of adding some demo and bonus tracks. Stay tuned!