Discography
Rose Tattoo
Label : Albert Productions
Catalogue : APLP.032
Date : 18 November 1978
Country : Australia
Rose Tattoo Reviewby Eduardo Rivadavia
If AC/DC are the greatest blue-collar hard rock band of all time, then Rose Tattoo (also Australian, also managed by the Vanda and Young team) just may qualify as the world’s greatest blue-collar punk rock band. Led by impetuous, diminutive frontman Angry Anderson (the Ronnie James Dio of punk?) and the brilliant slide-guitar work of Peter Wells, Rose Tattoo were a mean and not-so-lean gang of tattooed misfits, all of them veterans of the hard as nails Aussie pub rock scene — in short, the kind of guys you’d cross the street to avoid.
Released in 1978, their eponymous debut (issued in Europe as Rock ‘N’ Roll Outlaw almost two years later) is a dangerous, unpredictable, monster of a record whose power has hardly diminished an ounce in the decades since. First song, “Rock ‘N’ Roll Outlaw,” draws the line in the sand, challenging all comers to cross at the peril of a split lip; then “Nice Boys (Don’t Play Rock ‘N’ Roll)” (if you thought Guns n’ Roses version was bad-ass, think again) delivers an uppercut to the jaw that’ll set you reeling.
The boogie-intensive “One of the Boys” recalls George Thorogood at his baddest, while “The Butcher and Fast Eddy” — a gritty shuffle about dueling gangs of outlaws — offers a Down Under adaptation of the classic Stagger Lee urban fable. First single “Bad Boy for Love” borrows its main riff rather blatantly from AC/DC’s “She’s Got Balls,” and the lone, slow number “Stuck on You” is the Rose Tattoo equivalent of the Stooges’ “Gimme Danger.” “Remedy” and “T.V.” are blasts of pure raw energy, and if you’re not reduced to a sweating, drained pile of pulp by the time you arrive at the tee-total lunacy of closer “Astra Wally,” you better check your pulse.
As seemed inevitable, given their combustible nature, Rose Tattoo’s career was quickly derailed by internal strife, but this only adds to the timeless mystique and unique triumph of this debut. It’s as “street” as white boy rock gets — essential hard boogie. [The 1990 Repertoire records CD reissue adds eight bonus tracks, between B-sides and live recordings to the original release.]
Assault & Battery
Label : Albert Productions
Catalogue : APLP 049
Date : September 1981
Country : Australia
Scarred For Life
Label : Albert Productions
Catalogue : APLP.056
Date : 01 June 1982
Country : Australia
Editorial Reviews
Rose Tattoo’s third album ‘Scarred for Life’ produced 3 singles and peaked at #14 on the Australian National charts in 1982. The band went on a three-month tour of the USA, which took in support dates for the likes of Aerosmith and ZZ Top-meanwhile ‘Scarred for Life’ went on to sell 70,000 copies.
Southern Stars
Label : Albert Productions
Catalogue : APLP.431063
Date : 10 October 1984
Country : Australia
Editorial Reviews
Digitally remastered and expanded edition of this album by the Australian hard rockers. Includes three bonus tracks and 16 page booklet with liner notes by Malcolm Dome with quotes from Angry Anderson.
With Angry Anderson at the helm and a completely overhauled line-up in place, the band returned to work with Vanda & Young as producers at Albert Studios for what was to be the last time the band worked with the famed production team. Rose Tattoo experimented a little on this album, trying out fresh ideas. It also helped that they had a new regiment of talent on board.
Originally released in 1984, Southern Stars made it to #30 in the Australian charts. Three singles releases were taken from the original album ‘I Wish’ (#32 Australia) plus ‘Freedom’s Flame’ and ‘No Secrets’. Anderson and Meyer did much of the writing, and there was a distinct move towards a more commercial sound, this being achieved without sacrificing all the values for which the Tatts had stood during the previous trio of albums.
A Decade of Rock
Label : Albert Productions
Catalogue : APLP.431067
Date : 29 March 1986
Country : Australia
Beats From A Single Drum
Label : Mushroom
Catalogue : RML 53217
Date : 22 November 1986
Country : Australia
Angry Metal: 20 Great Tracks
Label : Repertoire Records
Catalogue : REP 4309-WG
Date : 10 February 1993
Country : Australia
Editorial Reviews
Reissued 1984-84 albums. 20 tracks ‘Best Of’ from one of Australia’s finest Rock exports. Includes Tatts classics like ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Outlaw’, ‘One of the Boys’, ‘Scarred for Life’ and ‘Southern Stars’ all of which make this a great Rose Tattoo collection.
Never Too Loud
Catalogue : REP 4601-WG
Date : 21 July 1997
Label : Repertoire Records
Country : Australia
Nice Boys Don’t Play Rock ‘N’ Roll
Label : Albert Productions
Catalogue : 828768882
Date : 14 July 1998
Country : Australia
25 To Life
Label : Steamhammer
Catalogue : SPV 089-72091
Date : 28 November 2000
Country : Australia
Pain
Label : Steamhammer
Catalogue : SPV 085-74212
Date : 23 June 2002
Country : Australia
Pain Reviewby Gary Hill
Ever wonder what Led Zeppelin might have sounded like had they added a couple members of AC/DC and a couple members of Lynyrd Skynyrd to their lineup? The answer might lie in this album. Indeed, Rose Tattoo’s gritty, bluesy rock & roll certainly does feel a lot like a Southern rock take on Zep with some Australian influence thrown in. The Aussie elements should come naturally, as that is the place from which Tattoo hails, but where does that Southern element fit in?
Two of the most blatant examples of the band’s Zeppelin esque tendencies are the disc opening “Black Magic” and “No Mercy.” Interestingly, the latter cut also feels quite a bit like ’70s hard rock stalwarts Nazareth. That is a sound that also shows up throughout the disc. If you want to see the most solid showing of the “Aussie sound,” just jump ahead to the title track. It is a bit strange, a bit awkward, a lot angry, and very Australian. All in all, these veterans have shown that they really do live up to the rock & roll legacy of the greats. This is 16 tracks of great rock adrenaline that should leave you shouting “Long live rock & roll,” perhaps with the added and “Rose Tattoo.”
Blood Brothers
Label : Armageddon Music
Catalogue : AMG 059-2
Date : 16 February 2007
Country : Australia
Blood Brothers Review by Alex Henderson
Outside of their native Australia, Rose Tattoo aren’t as well known as their countrymen AC/DC — and they haven’t been together quite as long. AC/DC were formed in 1973, while Rose Tattoo’s original lineup got started in 1976. But folks who really know hard rock inside and out will tell you that Rose Tattoo are a hard rock institution. They’ve had their challenges along the way, including numerous lineup changes and the deaths of no less than four members (Dallas “Digger” Royal in 1991, Pete Wells and Ian Rilen in 2006, and Lobby Loyde in 2007).
But Rose Tattoo have kept performing and recording nonetheless, and Blood Brothers finds them in pleasingly good form in 2007 (the year of their 31st anniversary). The lineup on Blood Brothers consists of lead singer Angry Anderson, guitarists Mick Cocks and Dai Pritchard, bassist Stephen King, and drummer Paul DeMarco; Anderson and Cocks are the only ones remaining from the late ’70s, but despite all the lineup changes over the years, Rose Tattoo’s bluesy, dirty, rough-and-tumble sound (essentially a mixture of Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, AC/DC, and the Faces) remains intact.
Anderson turned 60 in 2007, but his in-your-face performances on gritty tracks like “Man About Town,” “Sweet Meat,” and “Black Eyed Bruiser” make it clear that he hasn’t exactly mellowed with time. In fact, the Aussies haven’t toned down their bikers-from-hell image one bit. Blood Brothers isn’t among Rose Tattoo’s essential releases, but it’s a solid and consistent, if predictable, outing — and longtime followers will be happy to know that they are still plugging away passionately after so many years in the hard rock trenches.
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