Whatever Happened to...the Complete Works Of

The Soho Roses were around for a couple years in the late '80s, one of the few British bands focusing on glammy hard rock in the manner of American groups like Guns N' Roses or Poison, but with a rougher, slightly punky edge that the majority of U.S. hair metal acts completely missed. Hanoi Rocks is obviously the primary influence on their brand of crunchy pop-metal, but the Soho Roses lack that band's experimental streak, which makes the 23 songs (including three inessential remixes and two versions of the single "So Alone") sound like nothing more than passable imitations of their forebears. They do get points for a gleefully glammed-up cover of the Buzzcocks' "What Do I Get," but their original material consists mostly of awkward mash-ups of the harder side of '70s glam rock and the poodle-metal styles of the day. Anyone who doesn't have fond memories of now-forgotten contemporaries like the London Quireboys and Dogs D'Amour can give this a pass.