DEAD EASY - Rest In Pieces CD

Preamble - this is a review with a difference - it takes the form of an e mail I sent to Electra - the lead singer of this project with guitarist Ian Jones and a few famous guests - which I sent as I was reviewing the album in real time - so you get exactly what she got....

Shot Down - blimey - you sound more like Grace Slick on steroids - it doesn' t sound like you, but it's one thunderous track and I LOVE the guitar work. Heavy and then some, it's a hurricane and you gotta be impressed. I'm not sure how GOOD a song it is, as that's largely buried in the blitz, but with a performance like this, from you all, who cares!!
Bang Yer Dead - Ah yes - THIS one - a great song and you sing it here so well - I miss the quirkiness of your own version, and there's a real smouldering passion in your version that's here substituted for sheer unbridled dirty love. As before, great guitar sound, strong rhythms, you're superb - but who on earth let that male chorus stand - oh nooooooooo - it sounds so CHEESY!! - decidedly eighties - but perhaps that's part of the appeal if you listen to it enough times (I'm on number three as we speak) - although, overall, I still prefer your version of it.
You Trapped Me In - wow - a real barnstormer - now you sound like a cross between you and Grace Slick (gawd - you're gonna kill me for this!!) - but what a track - just sensational - your vocal has the hairs standing up on the back of your neck and this is absolutely brilliant - you can't fault a track like this - just genius! The synths actually add to the weight rather than detract from it, and that's really amazing in itself, but this - THIS - is unreal - what a track!!
Someone's Calling - drums sound a bit tinny here - great guitar though - then your vocal comes in, the track drops down and the effect works a treat - just a shame that the drums sound a bit one-dimensional - but as the intensity increases and the song climbs higher, you stop noticing the drums and the song takes hold. Love the multi-tracking on your vocal - gives you added strength, not that this performance needs it - again, fantastic guitar work, a great arrangement, good lyrics and you just fly - the drum work it has to be said, is a bit simple for such a great song, but that's just me being picky - still a superb song.
Can You See Me - Rock solid intro - good bass - drums sound better coz they' re doing more - neat drop back into acoustic guitar - love the sultry vocal - you're sooooo good at this style - but then - blatt!!! - hey - I remember this song now - oooooo - it's slower than your version and more varied - very late night passion - love the effects - totally differently structured from your version. I love yours but this is just as good and you excel - jeez, Ian is SUCH a stunning guitarist - how come he never made it - there's bands that would kill for a guitarist who could play rock with this amount of feeling and emotion in everything he does. Would have preferred an end than a fade - but that's me being ULTRA picky. Another gem.
Better Change - Ah yes - slightly slower than yours - but what a song! Still powerful, although I think your own version is more powerful. Your vocal is strong, superbly delivered, and really hits home. It's the difference between a Sherman tank and a nuclear missile - each ruthlessly effective but one at the speed of light while the other bulldozes everything before it - this is the tank - yours is the nuclear. Both work and both are stunning in their own ways. Is this one slightly shorter? Feels it, oddly enough, but I' m probably wrong.
The Thrill Of It All - not to be confused with the Roxy Music track (hehehe) - seriously, a neat change of pace after what's gone before but surprisingly starts to intensify even at this pace with some phenomenal bass work, and love that grungy sea of dirty guitar riffing. Your vocal is a delight at the beginning - sooooo sensitive and a reminder on this album of what a fantastic vocalist you are - at this point, yer new fan is saying "well, this proves this is one grade-A class female singer who can really cut it no matter what style she's doing". When it goes heavy at 1min 45sec, you feel almost obliged to move out the way as this juggernaut of smouldering rock and soaring vocal threatens to run right over you, should you dare stand in its way. Then it all drops back and the atmosphere changes again - but it feels and sounds so natural - Natural E!!! - you tear my heart apart at this point, wrenching at every fibre with that vocal - just.
Look Behind You - chugging away at the start, you feel that this one's going to suddenly explode - and indeed it does, to great effect as the song and your neatly echoed (or is it multi-tracked - or both?) vocal takes off like a rocket amid the hail of guitars and driving rhythms - what a guitar solo!!! - burns things up superbly - more "chunky" than your version, probably more intense if I remember rightly - and while I think on your version, you REALLY let rip, here you let rip enough for it to be jaw-dropping, and that's what counts. Voices - shades of Queen's "We Will Rock You" in that rhythm but that's a plus as this giant sized stunner of a rock track simply shines like a million suns as the dirty bass, the ringing guitars, the solid drums, the supercharged riffs and your immensely xpansive multi-tracked and lead vocal manages to soar effortlessly and powerfully over this immense rock arrangement - how you do this is amazing - and the whole production, playing and singing on this track is the stuff of rock dreams, so intense, so heavy, so powerful and yet absolutely perfect in its effect - you don't get end tracks more on fire than this - simply awesome.
Bonus: Fire On Ice - sooooo -we get ever nearer the holy grail perfect version of this song - again, slightly slower than yours with your vocal that slightly less "urgent" but the guitar work is superb as the rhythms really kick ass. Your vocal soars like an eagle on heat (do eagles go on heat? Oh well.....) and that end portion of the song is just superb, as your vocal really lifts off. A great song and a great version.
Dirty Fun - does exactly what it says on the tin - embodies everything that makes Dead Easy the world's greatest forgotten rock 'n' roll band that ever was - metal heaven on earth - the thrill doesn't end here - it just begins - as you have no alternative but to return to the beginning and play it all over again - this track is incendiary - the whole album is on fire - and to think that this is an album that remains unreleased to this day, is mind-blowing. If I was a rock label, I'd pay squidillions for this album - this - THIS - is genius - pure and simple - Ms E - you have one burning hot potato on your hands - use it wisely!

In short - it is one of the FINEST and most original rock albums I've heard in years!! What the heck are you going to do with it - it could be a passport to lord knows what - you seriously need to get this in the hands of someone who REALLY has influence - this is a CD that could move mountains!
I never thought that after all you've recorded and sent to me, after all the times I've seen you live, that you could actually have any tricks left up your sleeve, but that's one huge sleeve you have there and this is one trick that will make any audience gasp.

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