LEATHERWOLF: Street ready LP 1989 Epic Heavy Metal. Check VIDEO of “Hideaway”

Description

This  is a great retrospective video of southern-California based metal band Leatherwolf, formed in 1981. Known for featuring three lead guitarists, unusual for an American metal band at the time, Leatherwolf had all the ingredients for success. However, record labels and odd marketing decisions would get in the way. We review the albums, videos, and history of a tremendous band that is too often overlooked:

Leatherwolf – Street Ready (Island) 1989
1. “Wicked Ways” (6:03)
2. “Street Ready” (3:05)
3. “Hideaway” (3:56)
4. “”Take A Chance”” (3:10)
5. “”Black Knight”” (2:58)
6. “”Thunder”” (3:47)
7. “”The Way I Feel”” (4:54)
8. “”Too Much”” (3:34)
9. “”Lonely Road”” (3:44)
10. “”Spirits In The Wind”” (5:05)

 

Leatherwolf were heavy metal. Forget all the sub-genres and labels. Leatherwolf cranked high quality, straight forward heavy metal. “”Street Ready”” is a tad more commercial than the band two preceding albums, but radio rock this is not. “”Street Ready”” features strong vocals, fantastic guitar work and catchy, memorable tuned. This is especially true of the song “”Thunder””. Having three excellent guitar players in the same band is an interesting concept as each of the guitarist seem to try to outdo the next. Gotta love some healthy competition to bring out the best in a musician. It a shame that this quality has disappeared in modern hard music.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Leatherwolf third, final, and strongest.,
Street Ready is Leatherwolf third, final, and strongest album. Street Ready is powerful all the way through and is amazing. Sadly the album had poor sales in 1989 and Leatherwolf ended up being dropped from Island Records never to be heard from again, that is until the release of the live album Wide Open in 1999. Even due to poor sales, this outdoes Leatherwolf two first confusingly self-titled albums.

1) Wicked Ways – A perfect album opener. The opening guitar is is just beyond explanation. This is easily one of the top three songs on the album.

2) Street Ready – One of the weakest, if not the weakest, on the album. Its fast and loud. Average but not great.

3)Hideaway – The best song on the album. Melodic and great. The lyrics are amazing on this track. This one had a music video.

4)Take A Chance – Fast and Furious. Great fast track.

5)Black Knight – Superb Instrumental! Leatherwolf were amazing guitarists, and this proves it!

6)Thunder – Another one of the top 3 songs on the album. This songs just sounds mean.

7)The Way I Feel – One of the weaker tracks, but still great

8)Too Much – Fast and good

9)Lonely Road – Great tune with good lyrics. Michael Oliveieri vocals really stand out here.

10) Spirits In The Wind – Perfect album closer. Melodic and great. Entire album leaves a good impression.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Great album
First of all I have all of leatherwolf studio albums, so I have a good feel for their sound. Leatherwolf is a great underground 80 melodic metal band. The way they combine their three guitars and keyboards sets them apart from other bands. Unlike their previous two self-titled albums (why they did that is beyond me), this album sounds more like arena rock. God, I wish I could’ve heard them play this in a huge stadium! Anyway, you can play this album from start to finish without having to skip a song. I listen to a lot of 80 metal and some 90 metal and there are not too many albums you can do this with besides any Ratt or Motley Crue albums, which are in a league of their own, in my opinion. On Street Ready, there are some faster songs here as well as a couple of gems, namely the ballads: “”The Way I Feel,”” and especially “”Lonely Road.””
Taken as a whole, this album is very strong but should nonetheless appeal to any 80 metal fan.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Great release,
This is my favorite release by Leatherwolf. The guitars, vocals; everything was perfect on this on this. Finding this on tape was great
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5.0 out of 5 stars Utterly Epic,
This is among the best of the best when it comes to melodic metal. One of those rare albums in which there isn’t a single song I was inclined to skip over. With the ever changing world of music in this age, it takes an old school cat to appreciate the mastery of a four axe band. The multiple leads blend together in ecstatic metal harmony, and the vocals are clean and clear. From the pulse pounding punches of “”I Am the Thunder””, the heart melting lyrics in “”The Way I Feel””, and the beautiful fret melting solo in the instrumental “”Black Knight””, you’re going to want to make copies of this out of print treasure and preserve the original. Rock on!!!
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5.0 out of 5 stars Great memories,
Love to listen to music that just makes your most inner person feel good and want to keep on rockin.
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5.0 out of 5 stars A great band that never received any recognition that it WELL deserved,
LEATHERWOLF and CRIMSON GLORY were and still are my two favorite bands. Awesome musicans, great songs, and creative song writing. All I have too say to the producers of MTV Headbangers Ball is you guy SUCKKKKK. You played out great songs over and over from the Crue, Ratt, Jovi, Ozzy, Maiden,etc, and never played bands that could Rock their instruments.
Wicked Ways and Way I Feel are my two favorite. If you never heard of them you need to. Better late than never.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent,
Wicked Ways, Black Knight and Thunder.
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5.0 out of 5 stars More melodic, but still a great metal album,
Released in 1989, Street Ready was the third album by California metal band Leatherwolf. Unlike a lot of California-based “”hair metal”” bands, Leatherwolf actually qualified as a real metal band. They put a melodic West Coast polish on Iron Maiden British metal style.

Leatherwolf signature sound – a triple (triple!) guitar attack and a great sense of melody – is in place here, but Street Ready finds the band going in a more commercial direction. They’re more Dokken than Iron Maiden this time around, with love songs and even a power ballad. These are good love songs though, and the ballad – “”Hideaway”” – is absolutely brilliant. This would be the one hair metal album all the metal tough guys would own. It just a great collection of well-written melodic metal songs. If I were putting together a Leatherwolf “”best of”” I’d have to include at least half of this album.

Like Fifth Angel and Crimson Glory, Leatherwolf remains one of the `80s metal scene best kept secrets. If you’re a serious metal fan, particularly of the classic `80s style, you absolutely must check out Leatherwolf.