Pink Cream 69 - One Size Fits All (1991) (Japanese ESCA-5180)

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Pink Cream 69 - One Size Fits All (1991) (Japanese ESCA-5180)

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Before you ask, no – I have no idea why anyone would call their band PINK CREAM 69. But it does make me sad to think of how many potential fans they’ve lost over the years because of the name. Don’t believe me? You try it on someone. In the meantime though, it’s fortunate that this band has two other claims to fame beyond their crummy name.

Their bassists Dennis Ward has done what few bassists have done. He’s risen from making up the numbers (the preordained destiny of your average bass player) to become a producer whose name alone sells records. In fact he’s almost overtaken Limb Schnoor as the name behind the safest bets in metal. Next time you see Dennis Ward’s name on a release, it won’t be life changing – but it will be safe. Not for me though. I prefer the other PC69 point of interest. If you didn’t know already, this is the band Andi Deris fronted before migrating to HELLOWEEN.

Since I never miss an opportunity to thunder home Deris’ credentials – I’ll start by doing exactly like that. This man is a metal master. He sings. He writes. He leads. What more would you ask for? Well, the usual answer is Michael Kiske. Most old school fans have trouble moving on from an original singer. You can count on the fingers of one hand (or maybe just a thumb and pointer) the number of second in line singers that have been embraced by the fans. Deris isn’t one of them. But you get the feeling he couldn’t care less. He just makes metal.

On this, the second PC69 album, he occupies much the same main songwriter role as he now does with HELLOWEEN. And even though it’s safe to say his best stuff lay ahead – there isn’t a great deal wrong with the six tracks he chips in here. All border on metal and hard rock, and all are arranged and played the way you’d expect an album from the early nineties to sound: a cross between traditional metal and eighties radio friendly rock.

“Living My Life For You” is a good example of the angsty and driven hard rock style of Deris’ writing at the time. The lyrics could easily have been matched to an acoustic or piano ballad – but instead you get a bitter tantrum for a chorus that manages catchy and angry in the same breath. But there’s no mistaking what to do with the lyrics of “Hell’s Gone Crazy”. In fact those three words repeated over and over are you all get for a chorus. Better known as an anthem of course. Just try not picturing a thousand fists punching the air the very first time you hear this one.

“Ballerina” does more than just slow things down a little. It paints a sad little portrait of a dancer fallen from grace. But strangely it keeps it’s distance. It’s an outsider telling a story. Look but don’t touch it seems to say. Either that, or it’s just too late. What else do you want from a power ballad? It works and works well. Likewise “Stray Kid”, which offers a kind of close up of the themes of “Hell’s Gone Crazy”. This time we zoom in to just one kid and a life going nowhere. The chorus stabs and mocks and says game over.

Now, if you haven’t worked it out already, despite the funny-for-a-minute band name (and album title for that matter) – PC69 actually write some seriously deep stuff. The last two songs on the album go from deep to desperately brilliant. “Where The Eagle Learns To Fly” opens with one of Deris’ favourite acoustic riffs (later reused on his second solo album) to launch into a haunting indictment of an indifferent world. Think a requiem done with a six string and a dude with long hair. “We Taught The Children” continues along the same lines of social concerns, but the arrangement is an out loud chorus and back up vocalists with a gun held to their head. Or another anthem that explodes with or without a countdown. That’s just how Deris likes it. Whatever the band.

~ http://www.metal-archives.com