Jizzy Pearl is a rock icon in the truest sense. A founding member of Los Angeles-based band Love / Hate (1985) he has also been lead singer of LA Guns, Ratt, Adlers Appetite and (most recently) Quiet Riot.
Now we were able to get our paws on the new “love/hate” album titled ‘Crucified’ (out January 2014). For the purists out there it is important to emphasize that this is a solo project for Jizzy Pearl’s – made without the original line-up – but it is the first Love/Hate original material to be released in years … and we are absolutely thrilled with it and even more excited about the big man’s upcoming UK tour scheduled for next year … which will include a slot at the Hard Rock Hell AOR Festival.
[EDIT] – Love/Hate & new Quiet Riot frontman Jizzy Pearl has re-released his 6 song mini-album CRUCIFIED as a Jizzy Pearl solo record, because, in his words, he “didn’t want to hassle ex-members anymore.” In another move to avoid confusion Jizzy has renamed his 2014 UK tour Jizzy Pearl’s Love/Hate, that way “People will know who is playing and who isn’t.”
“Why did I change the Love/Hate record to a Jizzy Pearl record?” – Jizzy Pearl
“Simply put, because dealing with ex-members isn’t worth the hassle. I don’t want to spend thousands fighting over a band that makes hundreds. This isn’t Queensryche, or Great White, we’re not talking about a band that makes $12,000.00 or $20,000.00 a night. But there are some people out there who still think Love/Hate is the “Golden Goose,” Some people think that Love/Hate sells T-shirts like Iron Maiden or Motorhead. Some people still think MTV plays videos…unless you’ve gassed up the van and done the tours like I have then I guess you don’t really know. So here’s the deal–I’ll do this last and final tour as Jizzy Pearl’s Love/Hate, that way the fans will know who is and who isn’t in the band. After that we’ll put the whole thing to bed and I’ll never play with any of these ex-members again. I love Love/Hate–The fans are great, the music was superb but in the end ex-members just aren’t worth the hassle…”
In 1992 , when Love / Hate released their second album “Wasted in America” Jizzy ritually ‘crucified‘ himself onto the ‘Y’ on the world-famous Hollywood sign in L.A. Apparently the stunt backfired – the record company thought it was done in bad taste – and they eventually dropped the band. But, at the time of the act, Jizzy acquired great fame as a madcap singer in a bad-ass band … and he garnered the respect of metal-heads right across metaldom. This dramatic adventure is reproduced in the album opener ‘Hanging you out to Dry’ – but in retrospect it doesn’t seem like Jizzy feels it was ‘big’ or even ‘clever’ any more. Lyrics like “They Loot you and Salute you in your Leather Pants / You got no pot to piss in and you just can’t dance…” hint at the true futility of the attention-grabbing event. 
High-pressure guitars indicate the sizzling sun on that day, the sneering vocal is adamant and assertive as it ever was. This is a suicidal pelt of a song. With dizzy drums, burning riffs and malignant heat – it will cause second-degree burns in the ears of metal fans willing to expose themselves to the ignition.
Love song “Sunny Day” is slower and more agonizing. It’s like watching a powerful snake die a slow death – trapped on a hot chrome hub-cap. The guitars spew fumes and the voice is tense and agonizing. The military rat-a-tat ending (drumming by Matt Starr) is hypnotic and appropriate.
“You’re Making Me Nervous” is a song about having a bad date attitude – the sinewy guitars from Keri Kelly (Alice Cooper/Skid Row) almost strangle you into their creeping trap and the voice is so full of nervous energy that you feel like offering Pearl a joint just to calm him down a little.
The ballad with a sting its tail is up next : “I Don’t Want To Be Your Baby”. The lightly strummed acoustic guitar sounds slightly limp as it falters against the Dylanesque pace and the weeping harp. It begins like a lump of mush-faced dough-ball – something you might expect from the Faces or Quireboys – but (as can be expected from Pearl) it has an acid spark and a vengeful bite to it. It’s formidable and dangerous.
We suddenly arrive in what appears to be George Harrison’s bedroom – as we enter the peace and hashish song called “Love Is All”. Get out your hanky, soak it in patchouli, and rest your low-down karma to this one.
Life is not a video game and when you fuck up it is for real and for ever. You cannot re-boot life and try again. “Too Late” explores this truth. The boogie is ripe and irritable – flames of guitar spurt out and the big bass bruises the edges of the sound ( Robbie Crane) … “It’s too late baby / You can’t go back” cries Pearl and you know he’s right.
Jizzy puts his best foot forward on this album. But I’m not gonna fool you – this is gonna get some detractors. The Love / Hate original line-up are already making noises about lawsuits. But I guess that will not stop or even slow down a man like Jizzy. After all, he has already been crucified once. Hasn’t he?
7/10
