Rose Tattoo Albums Ranked
Rose Tattoo is an Australian rock and roll band, now led by Angry Anderson, which formed in Sydney in 1976. Their sound is hard rock mixed with blues rock influences, with songs including “Bad Boy for Love”, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Outlaw”, “Nice Boys”, “We Can’t Be Beaten” and “Scarred for Life”. Their first four albums were produced by Harry Vanda and George Young who also worked with AC/DC. They disbanded in 1987, subsequently reforming briefly in 1993 to support Guns N’ Roses on an Australian tour. They reassembled again in 1998 and have since released two more studio albums. Here are all of Rose Tattoo albums ranked.
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4. Blood Brothers (2007)
“Originally released in 2007, Blood Brothers was the first Rose Tattoo material to be recorded following the demise of founder members Peter Wells and Ian Rilen (Dallas “Digger” Royall, drummer during their late 70’s-early 80’s heyday, had already passed away in 1991). Mortality and the impermanence of life is perhaps unsurprisingly something of a running theme throughout this record. Angry Anderson invests positively Sam Cooke/Otis Redding levels of passion into his vocal performances and the band sound as big as Godzilla. Slide guitarist Dai Pritchard lays down authoritative slabs of stinging, wailing slide that sound nothing like Peter Wells and wisely don’t attempt to.”
3. Scarred For Life (1982)
“The title track is another strong blast of riffs and slide guitar assaults that vocalist Angry Anderson howls over like a snarling madman. And I guess I’m biased, but even the trite lyrics of “Texas” don’t deter the charm a bit (and part of the reason why I came to Austin is for the same thing that Angry is singing about). While some of the lyrical content of “Revenge” wouldn’t feel out of place on a fiery Fox News broadcast, the wistful storytelling of “Fighting Sons” is a fine addition to this album and one of the best examples of lyric writing Angry ever did.”
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2. Assault & Battery (1981)
“Assault & Battery is probably my favorite Tatt’s record all the way through. They are an Australian band and at one time them and AC/DC were the two biggest hard rock bands in their country. Great album. No showboating. No flash production. Just fantastic riffs and rhythm. Classic no-frills hard rock with outstanding results. Every song a gem.“
1. Rose Tattoo (1978)
“The songs are simple and strait forward,with a little more boogie.The punk energy of a band,young and hungry shines thru.They also feature Peter Wells,formerly of Aussie heavyweights Buffalo! Two guitars,solid bass and drums,raspy and raw vocals. Songs like Rock-n-Roll Outlaw,Nice Boys,Bad Boy For Love,and The Butcher And Fast Eddy are classic.”
