Warrant - Live '86-97 [2LP Colored]

Warrant's Live '86-97 catches the Sunset Strip survivors on stage in the middle of the nineties, and this limited set spreads it over two 180 gram coloured LPs.

Recorded in Detroit in 1996 and released the following year, it comes from a period when the band had long since swapped arena-sized hair metal for something grittier. The Belly To Belly era had pushed them toward heavier, darker territory, and this show finds Jani Lane and company mixing those newer songs with the hits that made them MTV staples at the turn of the nineties.

Uncle Tom's Cabin keeps its swampy, storytelling menace, and Down Boys still has that cocky, fist-pumping bounce. Heaven, the big power ballad, still tugs at the heartstrings, while I Saw Red keeps its aching, bruised heart intact. Machine Gun and Sometimes She Cries round out the set, and Cherry Pie closes it all with exactly the kind of rowdy, sticky-fingered fun you would expect.

There is no studio gloss here, just a hard-working rock band sweating it out for a room full of loyal fans. It makes a fine snapshot of Lane's voice and songwriting, and a loud reminder of just how many good songs he wrote over the years.