Beat of Metal Motion

Japan's Bow Wow initiated their bid for occidental crossover with three simple steps. First, they drafted a new singer, Genki Hitomi, with better English-language skills than founding frontman Mitsuhiro Saito; second, they renamed themselves Vow Wow to avoid confusion with Malcolm McLaren's new wave confection, Bow Wow Wow; and, three, they polished down their heavy metal rough spots to achieve a more palatable, but oddly hybridized musical approach. These alterations were first profiled on 1984's oddly named Beat of Metal Motion, which elicited understandably mixed reactions from their loyal fans due to its abundant use of synthesizers (courtesy of the very talented Rei Atsumi) and choired vocals reminiscent of Queen. At times, these novel elements actually worked, as in the stop-start "Break Down," the tightly wound "Feel Alright," and the infectious "Too Late to Turn Back," which saw brilliant guitarist Kyoji Yamamoto riffing aggressively (indeed, his performance is as flamboyantly stunning as ever throughout) before conceding the floor to an equally flashy keyboard solo. But more often than not, things went decidedly pear-shaped, particularly on the ‘80s Rainbow carbon copy of "Mask of Flesh (Masquerade)," the tepidly anthemic "Rock Me Now," the saccharine ballad "Sleeping in a Dream House," and "Diamond Night," which curiously borrowed its bubbling synth program directly from Duran Duran's "Rio." By and large, the latter tracks weren't really at all bad, just way too disconcerting for easy processing by listeners who couldn't tell whether Vow Wow were wayward hard rockers ("Baby it's Alright" actually rips off Gary Moore's "End of the World" in no uncertain terms) or the heaviest New Romantics they'd ever heard. Damn those exotic Japanese! In any case, Beat of Metal Motion wasn't able deliver the grand entrance that Bow Wow had hoped for, so the hard-working group immediately set to work on their next attempt, 1985's Cyclone.