BY JAY ROBERTS (SPECIAL TO LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE)

The Cassette Chronicles is a continuing series of mini reviews and reflections on albums from the 1980’s and 1990’s that I have acquired through Purchase Street Records in New Bedford, MA.

The aim of this series is to highlight both known and underappreciated albums from rock, pop and metal genres from the 1980’s through the cassette editions of their releases. Some of the albums I have known about and loved for years, while others are new to me and were music I’ve always wanted to hear. There will be some review analysis and my own personal stories about my connection with various albums.

These opinions are strictly my own and do not reflect the views of anyone else at Limelight Magazine.

Hericane Alice – Tear The House Down (1990)

In preparing to write about this album, I found myself thinking back to 1990 when the album was released. I had seen an ad for the album in a magazine (possibly Metal Edge, but I’m not completely sure) and it looked intriguing to me.

So, I got myself to the store and picked the album up on cassette. Unfortunately, that was pretty much the last interesting thing I can recall about the album. It was the only release from the band and I remember not thinking much of the material. So, the album eventually got weeded out of my music collection.

Of course, when I made the big 100 cassette purchase from Purchase Street Records, this album was not only amongst the many and varied possible treasures, but it was still in the original cellophane wrapping from the Strawberries record store.

In 1990, as the era of metal music ruling the charts was starting to wind down, record companies were signing pretty much any type of “hair” band in the hopes of finding a gem that could lead to big record sales. It was throwing crap against the wall to see what, if anything, would stick.

Unfortunately, listening to this album now 27 years after its release hasn’t improved the quality much at all. Instead, this is a prime example of why metal died as a chart-topping force.

The music is really not that great, lacking what I would call a true feel for melody. At times, it sounds like it is just a bunch of discordant noise strung together in the hopes that nobody would notice the lack of a cohesive whole.

Side One leads off with the band’s single (and video clip) “Wild Young And Crazy”, which is mildly entertaining I suppose but it just lacks something in the hook department. It is a fast paced song designed to get your blood pressure up, but it really just kind of falls flat. As for the rest of the songs on the first side of the tape, only the title track serves to reward the listener with any sense of raising your energy level.

As for Side Two, well let’s just say that there are five songs and be done with it. Nothing on the second side of the cassette even compares to the first side.

Part of the goal of this series of articles is not just to potentially enlighten readers to some of the glorious metal of my favorite era of music, but also to remind myself of what I loved, what I missed, and maybe rekindle something from bands that just fell by the wayside.

But listening to Hericane Alice just reminds me of everything that went wrong by the end of “The Metal Years.” I can’t even say this was a noble attempt that fell shy of the mark. This album was just pretty much an abject failure. Tear The House Down makes it that much easier to understand why the band never really went further than the one release. This won’t be an album that gets more play time from me because.

Notes Of Interest: Bassist Ian Mayo and drummer Jackie Ramos went on to play with current Dead Daisies guitarist Doug Aldrich (ex-Dio, ex-Whitesnake) in both Bad Moon Rising and Burning Rain.
Singer Bruce Naumann reformed Hericane Alice in 2007 with an entirely new lineup around him. At last check on their Facebook page, they seem to still be active.