Under My Skin

Personnel: Stephen Pearcy (vocals, guitar); Erik Ferentinos (guitar, bass guitar); Matt Thorne (bass guitar); Fred Coury, Scott Coogan, Dog Boy (drums).
Audio Mixers: Matt Thorne; Stephen Pearcy.
Recording information: Mt Studios, Burbank, CA; TPS Studios, Los Angeles, CA; Underground Studios, San Diego, CA.
The latest in Ratt frontman Stephen Pearcy's long line of odd back to basics rockers, Under My Skin should sound familiar to anybody who has paid attention to Pearcy in his long march out of Ratt: it's rock & roll that treats Sunset Strip sleaze rock as a heritage, working the same gutter raunch strut that he did when things were turning round and round (the career-making hit he revives at the end here). Pearcy's voice is thinner, a little weaslier, so he compensates with beefier guitars that crank out some pretty alright riffs that are better when tempos are faster than slower. If there are no stand-outs, there are no embarrassments, either, which is an accomplishment for a rocker so determined not to move on from the past. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine