Enuff Z’Nuff — Rarities & Demos

If you haven’t heard of Enuff Z’Nuff, you aren’t the only one. They’ve been around since 1984, which is a long time, but there have been so many decent, good and great bands formed since then that their relative anonymity is hardly surprising. From about 1967 to the mid-1990s was a golden age if not the Golden Age of music; okay, Beethoven had long since rolled over, likewise Mozart, but the sound of especially electric guitars brought something quite unique to music, everything from  the twin lead of Wishbone Ash to the virtuosity of the evergreen Ritchie Blackmore, Joe Satriani and many others.

Enuff Z’Nuff are not in that league, but the forty tracks of melodic rock on this compilation are easy on the ear.  Rarities & Demos is scheduled for release on August 27. Check out their official website.

The band hail from Blue Island, Illinois, and as might be expected have had a fair turnover of members since their inception, although lead vocalist, bass player and founder member Gregory Rybarski is still there, and sounding good. So what is on this compilation?

It starts with Bye Bye Love, no, not that awful Everly Brothers song, but 2 minutes 55 seconds of unashamedly commercial rock. The last track is Look What You Do, which has a nice riff. Sandwiched between the two is a fine selection including Tara Nicole, which has a distinctly English feel to it. Crazy Night wouldn’t be out of place on a Bon Jovi album, while Misery has a distinctly unmiserable vibe.

The band are currently on tour with Faster Pussycat, a better known outfit who also date from the 1980s and whose 1989  release Slip Of The Tongue was controversial due to the epithet in the chorus, but in this day and age when rappers think mother is half a word, no one bats an eyelid.

At any rate, Enuff Z’Nuff are easy on the ear, and if they won’t have you rocking in the aisles, they won’t give your grandmother a heart attack either.