Year : 1985 (Bad Reputation Records Edition 2023)
Style : Melodic Hard Rock , AOR , Female vocals
Country : United States
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 226 mb
Bio:
All-female hard rock band from Long Island, New York.The band relocated from New York to Los Angeles, California in 1988 and broke up in the early 1990s.Their self-titled album was released in 1984. They toured with Aerosmith, Autograph, Nazareth, Motorhead, Foghat, and appeared as themselves in the movie "The Rejuvinator". The band moved to Los Angeles in 1988.Long Island, New York based rockers Poison Dollys, began in 1981 and soon gained local stardom for their slicked over hard rock fronted by vocalist Velena La Leuce, aka Roulette, real name Amy Brammer, keyboardist Hot Dot Ravish, drummer Jewel, bassist Mad Mef D’ Terror aka Mef Manning, real name Mary Ellen Felicione, and guitarist Gigi Taris aka Gina Stile, real name Gina Tagliente. This line up would play their first show by 1983 and began earning their rock badges and quickly gained a strong local fan base. With a replacement on drums by hard hitting Gail Kenny and the departure of their keyboardist the Dollys emerged stronger and the reformed line-up proved to be beneficial and the band was signed to release a debut album. Released in 1985 the self-titled debut won critics over with intricate and crunchy guitar hooks and Benatar esque vocals. Playing along side heavy weight bands from Blue Oyster Cult and Aerosmith opened the band’s fan base to expand far from just the east coast, and when fellow east coast rockers Twisted Sister covered the band’s opening track from the debut album “Love is For Suckers” in 1987 it became a cult classic for both the bands. Soon after the debut release guitarist Gina Stile would leave to start the band Envy with her sister Ronnie, later as well the all-female band Thunderbox before joining the Vixen line-up in 1998. The Dollys would continue on without missing a beat and soon added guitar virtuoso Laura Left (Nunziata) and eventually a second guitarist with veteran player Danielle Kern, formerly of Leather Angel and Jaded Lady. By 1988 the band would relocate to Los Angeles and earned a performance spot in the 1988 cult classic movie, The Rejuvenator and produced several new studio tracks. The Dollys soon emerged as part of the infamous Sunset Strip club circuit that launched many bands from Motley Crue to Poison, however the Poison Dollys found that regardless of being better musicians then most of their male counterparts, the male dominated hair metal scene left little if any room for its thriving and underrated female counterparts. Refusing to be pigeonhole in a Vixen or Lita Ford clique the Dollys played for several more years before disbanding in the early 1990’s and along with many other hard rocking female bands, remain a true undiscovered classic for some, however a current revival of hard rock and the many bands that should have gotten just as much radio play, if not more than others are quickly gaining new fans and the Poison Dollys certainly are one of these bands and with rumors circulating one time of a reunion by former guitarist Gina Stile, giving fans reasons to hope, for the chance to see these truly amazing talented women once again
Album:
One of the much sought after albums from the female-fronted melodic hard rock scene of the ’80s is without a doubt POISON DOLLYS 1985’s sole record, their self-titled “Poison Dollys“. The album never was reissued, and the original vinyl LP’s are really hard to find in mint condition.Well, Bad Reputation Records reissue label has released “Poison Dollys” for the first time on CD, and with a bonus disc including the band recordings / demos from 1986, 1987 and 1989.Unfortunately, this is one of the worst Bad Reputation reissues ever – sound quality is pretty poor. Sure, the original master tapes of this album were lost, but we criticize here the brickwalled, unnecessary saturated volume / gain applied. Additionally, seems there was a defective initial pressing with wrong track-listing / wrongly mastered songs.Having said that, it’s great to have, at least, the rare unreleased Poison Dollys songs, a band with the necessary talent for writing & perform good melodic hard rock songs. These women had the hooks, the skills, and the looks… but not the luck (and management) of VIXEN, HEART, LEE AARON, etc.Poison Dollys were an all-female heavy metal band, all aged between 19 and 22, formed in the early 1980s in Long Island, NY. The band consisted of Roulette (Vocals), Gina Stile (Guitars), Gail Kenny (Drums) and Mef Manning (Bass Guitar). The band played the NY/NJ club circuit heavily for years, starting by playing cover songs and then introducing their original tracks into their set.They were invited to record their self-titled album at Minot Sound in White Plains, NY in 1984. The album consisted of ten tracks (nine originals songs and “Love is for Suckers” which was written by a songwriter named Marky Carter). This song will be covered in 1987 by Twisted Sister.The album proved that these girls were serious musicians, capable of penning their own strong songs and deliver them to a high standard. The LP got very good reviews, which allowed them to tour with Aerosmith, Autograph, Nazareth, Motorhead, Meatloaf and Foghat, and they played many of the most famous metal clubs of the era, most notably L’Amour in Brooklyn. (In fact, Lemmy requested that the band open for him on more than one occasion.) Guitarist Gina Stile departed from the band shortly after the recording, and was replaced by Laura Left, who joined the group in late 1986. The girls worked on new tracks with the then relatively unknown KIP WINGER, which included a cover version of “Great Balls of Fire” (also recorded at Minot Sound).They also appeared as themselves in the movie “The Rejuvinator”. The tracks used in the movie were produced by David Brownstein at Minot Studio. There was a total of four tracks recorded during these sessions, two of which are used in the film.Poison Dollys received tons of very good press and articles in all the major music magazines. They were the only band without a major record deal to grace the cover of “Kerrang” magazine.The band moved to Los Angeles in early 1988. Gail Kenny returned to NY shortly thereafter and the rest replaced her and also added a second guitarist named Danelle Kern. Songs such ‘I Like It’ and ‘Look Too Good’ were recorded at One-On-One Studio in North Hollywood at the same time Metallica was doing their Black Album in a different room.These five tracks are the final recordings of Poison Dollys, all included into the bonus disc.
Line Up:
Roulette - Vocals
Gina Stile - Guitar
Mef Manning - Bass
Gail Kenny - Drums
Production:
Recorded At – Minot Sound
Mastered At – Sterling Sound
Lacquer Cut At – Sterling Sound
Pressed By – Hub-Servall Record Mfg. Corp.
Art Direction – Murray Brenman
Design [Album Design] – Edward Tricomi, Michel Comte
Engineer [Additional Engineering] – Wayne Warnecke
Hair – Edward Tricomi
Mastered By – George Marino
Mixed By – Ray Bardani, Roger Probert
Photography By – Michel Comte
Producer, Recorded By – Ray Bardani, Roger Probert
Stylist [Styling] – George Byron
Written-By – Marky Carter and Poison Dollys
Licensed From – Invasion Group
Remastered By – Jean-Yves Legrand
Tracklist:
CD1: Poison Dollys 1985
01. Love Is For Suckers
02. On My Way
03. Only You
04. Where You Are
05. Keeper Of The Faith
06. Right Time
07. All Night Through
08. Nobody’s Home
09. The Waiting
10. Electric City
CD2: Rare Recordings & Demos 1986-1989
01. Great Balls Of Fire
02. I Like It
03. Long Way Down
04. Just Another Day
05. Tell Me You Love Me
06. I Will Always Be Around
07. Turn Out The Lights
08. Hey Big Spender – Nice Boy
09. Come Up
10. One Night Stand
11. Here And Now
12. Stay Tonight
13. Look To Good
14. All For You
15. Mr Heartbreak
Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/
