The Hellacopters, High Visibility(Universal 2000)
This is an odd one for me to review as this blog is about albums that were missed and/or did not sell as much as they should. In my eyes this sold well and influenced many people to form a band and play rock n roll music. Just about any rock fan should know of the Hellacopters as many of the bands that were influenced by them would go on to have success. To me this album achived everything it could have done but in the eyes of the music work it did not sell as much.
This band was formed as a side project for Entombed drummer Nicke Andersson. First album was a noisy all out punk rock album, a great one at that 'Suppershitty to the Max' was recorded in what sounds like a minute on a personal stereo and comes out all the better for it. Fast forward to this album (Number four) the band have a deal with Universal and teaming up with producer Chips Kiesbye the sound changed. Not so much commercial rock and nothing like AOR it was a stripped down cleaner sound.
The record company needs something they can sell and I think the band produced a great balanced album that is radio friendly and rocks just as much as AC DC does. Album opener "Hopeless Case of a Kid in Denial" has one of the best intro riffs this writer has ever heard. Simple arpeggiated chords are used and make the album sound £1 million better. Throwing in a little bit of acoustic guitar helps build on the sound and with lyrics as catchy as these you have to sing along no matter what you are doing.
If you like solos you will love this album. It was kind of uncool to have solos back in 2000. and "Baby Borderline" consists of singing "Baby Borderline" and soloing. But that is all you need right? Chips Kiesbye production is simple but effective, making the band sound tight and clear. All the riffs hit you in the right place and backed up with some nice drumming the band keep the foot taping no matter what they do.
"Toys and Flavors" is so good it should have a video, oh they did make one but like me most people never seemed to see it. Some nice added in piano parts gives that 70s feel and the nod that its OK to wear flairs again. "Truckloads of Nothin'" shows off how good this band is at using the old six stringer. The riffs are that fast you may have to duck for cover. "A Heart Without Home" adds in what the drummer can do, Robert Eriksson directs the band and shows how to riff.
"I Wanna Touch" sounds like the CD player has been set of fast forward, more made for dancing than air guitar it gives the album that nice all round feel revisiting dance halls of the 50s. Album ends with "Envious" the band seem to know its the last song and jam away for the first 40 seconds and give you the feeling the band have more energy to have done a double album.
To me this is not even the best Hellacopters album but as album number four and at the time limited success outside Scandinavian this album should have taken them to the big festivals and big tours in America. For some reason it didn't happen, even in the UK the band only played London as demand was low. This album did go gold in Sweden and rightfully got them much more exposure there. But everywhere else nothing.
During the albums tour of America the band filmed and released a video Goodnight Cleveland that shows the band playing very small clubs across the USA. Those at the shows get it, but why do so many other people not know of the band? With many artists recommending this band in the press and three great albums before this one this should have been a no- brainer. Again I blame the public here, buying an AC DC album every so often does not mean you like rock music. And there was room for the Hellacopters just look at the joke rock band The Darkness a few years later selling 1.5 million albums in the UK and touring the biggest arenas while pretty much playing the same song over and over. The Hellacopters made two more albums before disbanding in 2007.
Again this band and this album to me achieved so much, influencing countless bands and kids to play and enjoy other rock bands. When I am old and in my rocking chair with my slippers on hand me a guitar and I will play the intro to "Hopeless Case of a Kid in Denial" just doing that alone means there job is done.
This band were that good I WANT people to rip them off.
High Visibility is easily available on Amazon.
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