The Four Fucking Horsemen

The Four Horsemen was a band that was never built to last & if you listen to this album you’ll actually hear that. It’s one of those moments in time where lightning strikes, the stars align & the band can do no wrong – at least on the album. From everything I’ve read, the band was anything but functional – lead singer Frankie Starr was a raging psychopath hell-bent on destruction as a matter of fact he’s one of the main reasons the band didn’t make it – just too damned crazy for his own good – stints in jail, drankin’, druggin’ & whorin’ his guts out. I don’t believe the band was able to get a decent tour together for this album due to all that madness, but it makes sense after the first listen. Sadly, the band would never get too many more chances to catch lightning in a bottle twice as Frankie Starr would pass away a few years later due to complications from a motorcycle accident. It’s my understanding that he was hit by a drunk driver of all things.

Before we dive into it, let me make it clear this ain’t Glam Metal, not even close; for the sake of argument let’s call it one of my favorite genre terms – Southern Sleaze. Not sure if I coined that one or not, but that’s exactly what this is. You take equal parts of Skynyrd, Hatchet, Blackfoot, AC/DC, Rose Tattoo, a gallon of 190 proof, an 8 ball of speed, toss’em into a blender, turn the volume up to 11 & BOOM – SOUTHERN SLEAZE!!!!

“Nobody Said It Was Easy” is a fucking feeding frenzy of epic proportions – 3 chord rock backed with blues-based slide guitar licks, pumpin’ bass & slick, yet simplistic drumming & of course the vocals – Starr’s voice in full form is loaded with whiskey, gasoline & asphalt, no way in hell I could sing like that, can’t even imagine but it’s absolutely beautiful – think Brian Johnson of AC/DC. The lead single off the album, “Rockin’ is ma’ business” comes across like a kick in the teeth. Hard driving riffs backed by a raucous rhythm section & of course Starr staking his claim – “Rockin’ is ma’ business and business is good”. With lyrics like “the book of Rock N’ Roll, Motherfucker I wrote it”, you know this guy was an ego maniac, but his effort here is more than believable. What red blooded male can’t get off on a tune about chics, hot rods & rockin’? The next big stand out is “Let It Rock”, a mid-paced “anthemic” number with Starr leading the way with that gnarly voice of his. I really dig the southernesque guitar riffing, almost reminiscent of something you’d expect to hear from the Georgia Satellites but with a much cooler vibe. The tempo ramps up right after the lead-break & I can’t help but wanna break shit. Thanks to the live recordings the remaining members band have unearthed the last few years, you can tell how well this went over in a live setting. Next up we’re treated to some serious Southern flavored fun with “Hot Head”. This track sees Starr singing in a cleaner voice, actually his vocals are quite good and they fit the song perfectly. For the guy to have been such a renowned psycho, he adjusted and sang to the music perfectly without letting his insanity get in the way. In my opinion, it says a great deal about his musicianship. A lot of musicians will cram everything they got into one song & overdo it, not Starr, he was spot on here and all throughout this album!

There are several other tracks on The Four Horsemen’s Nobody Said It Was Easy that are worthy of mentioning, but you get the picture, I’ll let you be the judge. I strongly suggest you stop, drop & do it now. This could very well be the best thing you never heard! If you’re into the who’s who of producing, Rick Rubin produced this album. I know I might catch some shit for this, but I could care less if he produced it – this album would’ve ripped faces off with or without him; the attitude, feel and heart are genuine, Rubin had jackshit to do with that, if he did, we would’ve heard a lot more killer shit like this from all the band’s he’s produced, but we haven’t or well I haven’t – yes, I love the work he did with Johnny Cash, but that’s about it.

So here’s what ya do, pour yourself a liquor drank, click that youtube link & turn that shit up! If it moves you, I strongly suggest buying the record, it flat rips in analog. And yes, it’s worth the 50-100$ you might have to spend. This is the best release of the 90’s and had it been unleashed around 1987 we wouldn’t still be talking about Guns N’ Roses, but that wasn’t meant to be. The Four Horsemen kicked a serious amount of ass in a short time and the world just couldn’t handle it…. Rockin’ was their biness and biness was fucking good!