Cocked & Re-Loaded (Millenium Edition)

Cocked & Re-Loaded is a re-recording of what was arguably L.A. Guns' finest album, their 1989 sophomore effort, Cocked & Loaded (natch), with an extra track thrown in (a completely disposable dance mix of the rocker "Rip and Tear"). Maybe you could accuse them of flogging a horse at death's door, but on its own merits, this is a good disc. The material is tried and trusted, and the re-formed lineup from the original album brings plenty of exuberance to these new renditions. Plenty of punch, grunt, and raunch here. Highlights include the alley-cat sass of "Sleazy Come Easy Go" — the kind of music strippers play when they're getting ready for work; the hooky rocker "Wheels of Fire"; and the 1990 hit "The Ballad of Jayne" — a moving torch song for the late actress Jayne Mansfield. Everybody's in fine form and clearly don't give a flying Ferrari that they're putting out a hair metal album more than a decade after the wave broke. Like a midnight walk down the Sunset Strip, Cocked & Re-Loaded is a gritty good time in the old-style rock & roll tradition. Not recommended for Southern Baptists or Korn fans.