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The Front - S/T (Columbia, 1989) |
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 Producer
Andy Wallace must have some kind of
great gift at creating a vibe, and capturing moments in the studio, cos
he's worked with real rock'n'roll greats from THE CULT to the
GODFATHERS, and produced the self-titled debut album from
The Front, one of
the finest, seemingly forgotten records of the
Flash Metal era.One of the most striking things about The Front was THE DRUMMER! Shane Miller! I'm not a drummer myself, so I dunno how much of the magic was was just in the production (or how the drums were mic'd in the studio) or whatever, but one of the major things that made this album so unbelievable to me was--the drummer! This guy stands-out, in my befuddled mind, as being one of the most under-rated, great rock drummers - up there with Razzle, Martin Chambers, and Clem Burke! I just loved this cat's hard rockin' drum sound, the dude could swing, AND he attacked the motherfuckers, he hit the cans HARD, but with a righteous, steady, sure-fire groove you don't hear too often anymore, amidst today's legions of grindcore math rockers or boompa-chocka/boompa-chocka kindergarten garage rock drummers! |
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| THE FRONT were a groovy, flash metal hard rock band callin' up the ghosts of Jim Morrison and all the spookier, more demented, darkly psychedelic, garage-punk bands from the sixties, with alot of soul and pathos. Their charismatic singer, Michael Franano, was a guy who, memorably, wore roses in his hair, and was a cool lookin' cat the goth chicks all loved, because he came off with that brooding poet strut, ala Jimbo and Michael Hutchence. He wrote cool poetic lyrics, if oftentimes, shamelessly derivative of his idols; and had a set of pipes that people regularly compared to all the greats. They created a buzz by blowing headliners off the stage in K.C., then signed with the malevolent mgt. team behind Bon Jovi, Skid Row, and Motley Crue. Keyboard player, Bobby Franano, added to the sixties-punk vibes, without straying annoyingly into cheesy cocktail jazz, or carnival ride terrain, like most keyboard players. With guitarist Mike |
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Green and bassist Randy Jordan,
these cats put this inspired album out on Columbia Records in '89,
and every song absolutely smoked. "SIN" will still get stuck in my head for days at a time. This shit was almost as good as THE CULT and really only suffered from being so completely saturated with third generation Morrison-isms. Michael Franano was obviously a thinker, though, and the Lizard King shtick was probably something many of us rock'n'roll singers just go through when we're young, and gradually have to all struggle to shed, as we find our own voice, so to speak; so that probably had something to do with why The Front couldn't carry on forever with their retro-Aquarian hard rock garage/metal fusion. This guy was just probably destined to keep reaching, and growing as a songwriter, but it's kind of a sad thing, cos by utilizing their producer's expertise (Wallace previously had worked on the Flash Metal Landmark, "Electric" with Rick Rubin, after all!!!) the FRONT tapped in to something really potent and powerful, that rare magical synergy, sorely missed in contemporary record making. |
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This record really had it all-lyrical depth,
strong hooks in ever song, emotional range, the works. They toured with
Lenny Kravitz back in
the day, which makes alot of sense, as he was mining a similar throwback
style, but unlike Franano, Lenny never outgrew his influences, he's
STILL
rehashing previous generation's more original personas, twenty years
later. The Front video for "Fire" immediately sparked debates as to whether Franano was the "Next Jagger" or "The New Morrison" and everybody who read RIP MAGAZINE, or watched Headbanger's Ball, ran out and bought the |
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| album- only to elatedly discover there were like, nine more tracks as good as the single! The album was comprised of danceable, and therefore sexy, straight-up rockers like "Sister Moon", "Sunshine Girl" and "The Garden", as well as all these crazy, long, gloomy epics, like "Violent World", shades of classic era Alice Cooper, and since I keep repeating the word era, let's Acknowledge that THE FRONT, like so many other bands of the HAIRSPRAY ERA, even managed to pen their own obligatory song entitled, "Sweet Addiction". | |
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"Pain" was like something torn out
of Ian Astbury's lyric notebook: "So many times without reason/I slip into believing The tales of dogs and demons/Forever I'm to wait For a truth that may not answer My soul is held for ransom The key, I know, won't fit in fine I feel I've been betrayed Pain Help me Find my way!"
While "Ritual" was the song I turned
on at like, five thirty in the morning, when I wanted to seduce a girl,
after the housefull of crazies
had all passed out, and I could finally steal some precious hours of
privacy. "Fire" was the song I predictably added to my lame cover's band's
live set back then. The Front incorporated snippets of
dialogue into songs and many segue into one another like the great concept
albums of the seventies. |
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It's even better than whatever the name was
of that Balaam & The Angel album that had "I Love The Things You
Do To Me" on it, because it was album oriented rock, really made for
people who grew up in the seventies, who dug listening to a whole album,
and expecting to be guided along on some kind of journey, and who
appreciated being taken on a full experience...am I sounding kinda acid-y
lately? For those of us who remember the times when you listened to a
whole album, like watching a movie, we kinda lament how much of today's
music is best burnt off on CD mixes cos few bands take you on a real trip.
OK, I'm gettin' self-conscious about the nostalgia I have for harder rockin'
times, when I wasn't too psychically frail for LSD, and the girls all played
tambourine, and showed up nightly with big bags full of groceries, gallons
of whiskey, stacks of rock mags, and cartons of Old Gold cigarettes, and
even Gatorade for our collective hangovers the next day, when nothing was
impossible and the sunshine girls danced to Le Motion barefoot by the fire
in my un-mowed backyard. What the fuck happened to the last 16 years??? __________________________________________________________________________________ |
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Anyway, Michael Franano and his brother must've had some kinda spat, cos
after touring with Bonham, Kravitz, and Aerosmith, and appearing
frequently for awhile on MTV, and probably even charting at some point,
THE FRONT broke up. A few members morphed into BAKER'S PINK, who I've
honestly never heard, although a once trusted source tells me it's also
good. Apparently, after the first album, they shit-canned the whole psychedelic paisley park mystique and moved forward into new genres, alienating their established fanbase, who weren't as eager to see them grow. |
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They made one album as Baker's Pink,
then, Michael Franano started releasing solo albums
under the "Michael Moon" moniker that I'm guessin' were probably in a Syd
Barrett/ Soft Boys vein, but really, I have no idea. Go find
out for
yourself. "The Front" is one of the few albums from the Flash Metal era that still stands up today, that's truly worth seeking out to play loudly, listen to repeatedly, and continue to enjoy, if you don't already own a copy. I mean, to fully appreciate it, I guess you'd have to like the evil underbelly of the 60's flower power bands, as well as the grooving biker stomp of seventies hardrock radio, but basically, if you like great hard rock from those Nuggets compilations, to Alice Cooper, and the Doors, or the Cult, and can get past the common fear of Redd Kross/Fuzztones style fashion sensibilities, man, you'll love this record. I feel like a hippie, some aging, old Dennis Hopper character nowadays, urging everyone to turn on some good tunes, and like, expand your consciousness, man! -Pepsi Sheen |
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