Year : 1991 (Dissonance/Cherry Red Records Edition 2026)
Style : Hard Rock , Blues Rock
Country : United States
Audio : 320 kbps + scans
Size : 111 mb
Bio:
The Four Horsemen were an American hard rock band who enjoyed brief popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Their style was blues-influenced hard rock, but their fame was both fleeting and marred by tragedy.The Four Horsemen were formed in the late 1980s by the Welsh-born guitarist Stephen Harris (a.k.a. Kid Chaos a.k.a. "Haggis"), who had been a member of Zodiac Mindwarp and a touring bassist for The Cult.Haggis formed the band in Hollywood, California, when he decided to leave The Cult, switching from bass to rhythm guitar.He had previously worked with Rick Rubin, the producer of the Electric album for the Cult, who introduced Haggis to the vocalist Frank Starr.Rubin also suggested the drummer Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery to Haggis. Dimwit was the brother of Charles Montgomery, aka Chuck Biscuits, then drummer with Danzig who were also working with Rubin.Their first release was a self-titled four track EP in 1989, which was influenced by the sound of AC/DC and early Status Quo.Their debut album, Nobody Said it Was Easy, produced by Rubin, was released in 1991, following a two-year delay when Starr was arrested on drug charges and spent six months in jail.The album generated the title track as a single, followed by the hit "Rockin' Is Ma' Business". However, Starr was arrested again and this time spent a year in jail on a drugs charge.This, combined with poor album sales as the grunge scene started to take over from traditional rock, caused the record label to drop them in 1992.In 1994, the band, minus Haggis and Pape who had quit having had enough of Starr's behaviour, reconciled their differences and started to put together a third release which was to become Gettin' Pretty Good... at Barely Gettin' By.But the first of two tragedies struck on September 27, 1994, when their original drummer, Ken Montgomery, died of a drug overdose.The band continued with production of the album, dedicating it to Montgomery and with Chuck Biscuits taking over on drums for the album's completion.In November 1995, Starr was hit by a drunk driver, while driving his motorcycle down Sunset Strip. Starr suffered a severe head injury which left him in a coma.Dave Lizmi carried on with the band as the sole remaining original member, releasing Gettin' Pretty Good... at Barely Gettin' By in 1996 on the Magnetic Air label, and embarking on a tour with vocalist Ron Young, formerly of Little Caesar, replacing Starr.Though it was initially hoped that Starr would recover, he eventually died on June 18, 1999.Following Starr's death, the band broke up.In 2005, Haggis and Lizmi assembled as much archive footage of the band as they could gather, and released a two disc retrospective, Left for Dead.Disc one was a DVD featuring all videos from the Nobody Said it Was Easy CD, plus rare interviews, live performances, and behind the scenes footage. Disc two was a live album.The song, "Back In Business Again", from their Gettin' Pretty Good... at Barely Gettin' By album, was featured in the G.I. Joe: Retaliation soundtrack
Album:
Official re-issue of this hard rock classic from The Four Horsemen, produced by Rick Rubin.1991’s ”Nobody Said it Was Easy” was one of the greatest rock albums to ever come from the grunge decade that you’ve never heard of. THE FOUR HORSEMEN were a multinational band, with Rick Rubin at the helm at the legendary Sound City studios producing, and released via his own label, Def American.The album landed just as grunge was breaking and immediately faced an uphill battle for acceptance, despite widespread critical acclaim. THE FOUR HORSEMEN shoulda been huge. Now Dissonance Records / Cherry Red are about to reissue ”Nobody Said it Was Easy”, ready for its 35 anniversary. Founded in the late ’80s by former Zodiac Mindwarp / The Cult bassist Haggis (Stephen Harris), the band members came together with help from Rubin, playing a style that took the basics from the AC/DC school of driving hard rock with a raucous vocal delivery from frontman Frank Starr. The band gained a reputation for being genuinely dangerous, further enhanced when Starr was arrested on drugs charges and imprisoned.After the release of the album drummer Ken Montgomery died from a drug overdose before vocalist Starr was killed on Sunset Strip by a drunk driver. The twin tragedies, plus the advent of grunge, derailed the band, despite acclaim from the media and fellow musicians.Classic Rock magazine on ‘Nobody Said It Was Easy’: “The songs were amped-up classic rockers, with all the hard rock crunch of The Cult mixed with Southern riff rock, and pushed right over the top by Starr’s hyperactive screech. Critics loved ‘em because they thought all the macho swagger was ironic, and the kids loved them because they knew it wasn’t.”Haggis play here rhythm guitar (ex-The Cult, formerly known as Kid Chaos) instead of bass. He lent the album an AC/DC edge with simple rock and roll riffs. Then there was Dave Lizmi, an uber-talented guitarist with a knack for classic tube-amp driven solos. On bass was Ben Pape who provided the album with interesting and melodic basslines.Finally, on drums, the man the myth the legend: Kenneth “Dimwit” Montgomery. A Canadian native as big as the mountains that spawned him, Dimwit was an absolute beast on the skins. His brother Charles Montgomery would change his name to Chuck Biscuits and joined Danzig.Opener and title track “Nobody Said it Was Easy” was a hell of an introduction. With a riff similar to those peddled by the Black Crowes a year before, but with a much harder edge, the track kicked every ass in the room. Get into the groove and enjoy, because the party is just starting.Frankie had a rock n’ roll voice, but when he let loose with his screaming, that’s when we knew he was special. Able to sing with a Brian Johnson shred, the Horsemen really had an ace in their pocket with him. Frankie was something else. He took no prisoners and without him, the Horsemen just didn’t sound like the Horsemen.There aren’t breaks between the songs, so “Nobody Said it Was Easy” goes right into “Rockin’ is Ma Business”, the heavier second single. Louder, groovier and weightier, “Rockin’ is Ma Business” proves its point. “And if it’s so good why am I still fuckin’ broke?” asks Frankie before Lizmi rips into another solo.The third (and some say the best) single was the slide-drenched “Tired Wings”. With a southern Skynyrd vibe, “Tired Wings” is simply awesome. There’s enough slide guitar here to drown a cat. Haggis makes sure there is plenty to go around.There could have been more singles, but the band hit the rocks when Frank was arrested and jailed for a year on drug charges. They were dropped by the record label, who stopped promoting the record. That effectively put the band on ice for several years, but that’s another tale…Worth to mention is the strength of closing track, essentially two songs over eight minutes long, “I Need a Thrill / Somethin’ Good”. The song reeks of cigarettes, booze and tired hotel rooms. With organ and loads of Lizmi licks, it’s an epic track soaked in feeling.If you are one of the many rock fans who missed The Four Horsemen during their brief heyday, then this CD reissue makes the album easy to acquire. The important thing is to get it!
Line-Up:
Frank C. Starr - vocals
Dave Lizmi - guitar
Haggis - rhythm guitar
Ben Pape - bass guitar
Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery - drums
+ guests:
Engineer, Hammond B-3 – Brendan O’Brien
Shaker, Tambourine, Backing Vocals – Ian Astbury (The Cult)
Tracklist:
01. Nobody Said It Was Easy
02. Rockin' Is Ma' Business
03. Tired Wings
04. Can't Stop Rockin'
05. Wanted Man
06. Let It Rock
07. Hot Head
08. Moonshine
09. Homesick Blues
10. 75 Again
11. Lookin' For Trouble
12. I Need A Thrill/Somethin' Good
Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/
