By JAY ROBERTS

The Cassette Chronicles is a continuing series of mini reviews and reflections on albums from the 1980’s and 1990’s. The aim of this series is to highlight both known and underappreciated albums from rock, pop and metal genres from this time period 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.

RATT – INVASION OF YOUR PRIVACY (1985)

As I wrote in my article a month or so ago about the self-titled EP from Ratt, other than their debut album Out of the Cellar, the band has been kind of “songs played on the radio” kind of thing for me. I also wrote that I’d heard a couple of their other albums in full, but it turns out I was off a little bit on that claim. Instead, I’ve only heard one other album from the band. That was the 1988 release Reach For The Sky, which had a couple of great songs on it. But truth be told, I never actually bought the album. I had a dubbed cassette copy that I got from a friend of mine.

With Reach For The Sky being Ratt’s fourth studio album, that means I missed out on hearing both Invasion Of Your Privacy and Dancing Undercover. Because I was so taken by that EP I wrote about, I said I wanted to check out those albums I missed. And now seems as good a time as any to get started on that path.

Invasion Of Your Privacy is likely best remembered for the two big hit songs that still make the playlist on specialty shows and any radio station that plays the music of the 1980’s metal era. Both “You’re In Love” and “Lay It Down” are on Side One of the cassette and they are both uptempo numbers with the expected hook to draw in the listener. I still rather enjoy each track whenever I heard them and that didn’t change as I listened to the album in order to write this article.

I was a little surprised to learn that there had been a third single released from the album though. The song “What You Give Is What You Get” is on Side Two of the album, but I had no previous memory of hearing the song on the radio. But as I heard it for possibly the first time ever, I was quite taken with it. Fast moving in tempo, the song had a really cool rhythmic feel to it as well.

But let’s get back to the rest of Side One, shall we.

Like I said, both of the hits from the album are on this side. But the songs “Never Use Love” and “Give It All” join those hits in the harder rocking style employed by the band. However, I didn’t really think they were overly noteworthy. Fine as album tracks but definitely a notch below the better songs here.

The only attempt at a ballad or more accurately put, power ballad is the side closing “Closer To My Heart”. While the title and the song’s lyrical content definitely fall into that softer side lovey-dovey type of song, I didn’t think it quite fit the ballad category. It certainly starts off that way but in my mind, the “power” part of things plays a larger role here than in just the song’s chorus. Because of that, this track sits a whole lot better with me. Yeah, I actually enjoyed it.

Moving on to the second side of the album, the opening track “Between The Eyes” rocked out musically but overall I thought this one was just marking time.

But the rest of the album is fantastic. After “What You Give Is What You Give”, the album burns bright with the track “Got Me On The Line”. Unless I’m misreading how the song plays out, it kind of sounds like the track was inspired by those phone sex lines so prevalent in the 80’s. Now if I’m wrong, don’t lose your mind. I’m just saying that is the impression I got, it’s not like I haven’t misread something before. Still, the song was fantastic and when I play this album again, it will be one of the songs I look forward to hearing the most.

The song “You Should Know By Now” is pretty darn good with the music a strong selling point to me. And the album closing “Dangerous But Worth The Risk” struck me as a song that could’ve been used as a single. Between the guitar work from Robbin Crosby and Warren De Martin and a vocal performance from Stephen Pearcy that was quite enjoyable, it does a great job of bringing the album to a fittingly rocking close.

It’s been over 35 years since the original release of Invasion Of Your Privacy and despite not getting around to listening to it in full in all that time, it was a pleasant little surprise to find out just how much good material there was to be had on the album. So good in fact, that it is keeping alive that spark of curiosity that will have me tracking down other albums from the band that I’ve missed out on until now. I can’t think of a better latter day testament than that.

NOTES OF INTEREST: Invasion Of Your Privacy went double platinum in the US. The songwriting credits for the album are shared (in varying combinations) by every member of the group except drummer Bobby Blotzer.

The album was produced by Beau Hill, who had done the production for Out Of The Cellar. He would go on to produce Ratt’s next two albums (Dancing Undercover and Reach For The Sky) as well. His list of credits as a producer, songwriter and even as a performer are extensive. Hill was one of the founders of Interscope Records.

The cover model for the album is Marianne Gravatte, who was the Playboy Playmate of the Year for 1983. She also appeared in the video for the song “Lay It Down”.