Description
SMASHED GLADYS SLEAZY HARD ROCK w. female vocals
96cm X 70 cm poster (37.79 inch X 27.55 inch poster)
Released 1985 (Heavy Metal America)
Track List:
01. Playin’ Tuff
02. 17 Goin’ On Crazy
03. Eye Of The Storm
04. Revolteen
05. It Ain’t Right
06. Hard To Swallow
07. Once You’ve Tasted Blood
08. Dream Away Heartache
09. Never Take No (For An Answer)
10. Metal Guru –> T-Rex cover
Band: Sally Cato – vocals Bart Lewis – guitar Marcel La Fleur – guitar J.D. Malo – bass Matt Stellutto – drums
Production:
Produced and engineered by Mark Dearnley.
Smashed Gladys were a group of sleazy, rude and crude rockers with a twin guitar attack and gritty vocals provided by the awesome female vocalist Sally Cato. Unfortunately the band never reached anything more then cult status.
Sally Cato (vocals), Bart Lewis (guitar), Marcel La Fleur (guitar), J.D. Malo (bass) and Matt Stellutto (drums) formed the band in Toronto, Ontario. But it wasn’t long before the group picked up and moved to New York City. It would be there that Cato’s voice (or maybe it was her good looks) caught the attention of Kiss’ Gene Simmons, who agreed to produce their demo and helped in getting the band signed to the Heavy Metal America label. While touring for the album La Fleur was replaced by Roger Lane.
The self-titled independent album went largely unnoticed, but the group was able to grab the attention of Elektra records for their second and last release. The critically acclaimed Social Intercourse was released in 1988, but by late 1989 the band was disintegrating. Lane left to join another New York sleaze band called The Throbs and Malo quickly followed suit by joining former Hanoi Rocks front man Michael Monroe’s solo band.
From there Malo would also surface with the Cycle Sluts From Hell before forming High Octane. The other members of Smashed Gladys seemed to have simply disappeared.
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Glam rockers Smashed Gladys hit the scene in 1985 with this self-titled debut album. The band drew a lot (visually and sonically) from Hanoi Rocks and the New York Dolls, and was serving up their brand of streetwise sleaze rock well before bands like Guns n’ Roses and L.A. Guns made that the de-facto soundtrack for the latter half of the decade.
I had to do a double take when I first noticed that vocalist Sally Cato was in fact a woman. Her barroom rasp never gives that fact away, and the whole band looked fairly androgynous, so her gender didn’t register with me at first. There’s no mistaking her for a Vixen or Lita Ford style pop-metal singer though. She’s definitely a rocker.
The band issued one more album (1988’s Social Intercourse) before going their separate ways. Let’s face it; the following decade really wasn’t any kind of place for a band like Smashed Gladys. If you’re an 80’s rock and metal fan, and have a particular love for sleaze rock, you’re going to want to get this LP.
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