Vicious Circle (album)
1994 studio album by L.A. Guns
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vicious Circle is the fourth album by American hard rock band L.A. Guns.[3][4] The first single was "Long Time Dead".[5] The band supported the album with a North American tour.[6]
- Ocean Way (Hollywood)
- 4th Street Recorders (Santa Monica)
- Red Zone (Burbank, California)
| Vicious Circle | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 4, 1994 | |||
| Studio |
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| Genre | ||||
| Length | 56:06 | |||
| Label | Polydor[2] | |||
| Producer |
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| L.A. Guns chronology | ||||
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| Singles from L.A. Guns | ||||
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Production
Michael "Bones" Gersema drums on several songs.[2] "I'd Love to Change the World" is a cover of the Ten Years After song.[7]
Critical reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [8] |
| Calgary Herald | A−[7] |
| Chicago Tribune | [1] |
| Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 8/10[9] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [2] |
| Rock Hard | 8.0/10[10] |
| The Tampa Tribune | [11] |
The Chicago Tribune stated that the band "hasn't wandered a bit from the glam metal they helped popularize in the late '80s—a raunchy sound that makes the true headbanger cringe," but conceded that the album "also features some danceable tunes."[1] The Calgary Herald determined that "bow-taut guitar solos are slung against arrows of melody fired at the bulls-eye of '70s rock."[7] The Tampa Tribune opined that "guitarist Tracii Guns' trigger-finger riffs still fire faster than a speeding bullet."[11]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Face Down" | Kelly Nickels, Mick Cripps, Michael Gersema, Phil Lewis, Tracii Guns | 4:11 |
| 2. | "No Crime" | Nickels, Gersema, Steve Dior | 2:35 |
| 3. | "Long Time Dead" | Nickels, Cripps, Lewis, Guns | 3:22 |
| 4. | "Killing Machine" | Nickels, Cripps, Lewis, Guns | 3:27 |
| 5. | "Fade Away" | Nickels, Cripps, Gersema, Lewis, Guns | 4:11 |
| 6. | "Tarantula" (instrumental) | Nickels, Cripps, Lewis, Guns | 0:56 |
| 7. | "Crystal Eyes" (American and European bonus track) | Nickels, Cripps, Lewis, Steve Riley, Guns | 5:53 |
| 8. | "Nothing Better to Do" | Nickels, Cripps, Lewis, Guns | 2:52 |
| 9. | "Chasing the Dragon" | Nickels, Cripps, Gersema, Lewis, Guns | 4:50 |
| 10. | "Kill That Girl" | Nickels, Cripps, Lewis, Guns | 3:13 |
| 11. | "I'd Love to Change the World" (Ten Years After cover) | Alvin Lee | 3:39 |
| 12. | "Who's in Control (Let 'Em Roll)" | Nickels, Cripps, Lewis, Guns | 4:02 |
| 13. | "I'm the One" | Nickels, Cripps, Gersema, Lewis, Guns | 2:28 |
| 14. | "Why Ain't I Bleeding" | Nickels, Cripps, Lewis, Guns | 4:32 |
| 15. | "Kiss of Death" | Gersema, Lewis, Dior | 5:55 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16. | "Death in America" | Nickels, Cripps, Gersema, Lewis, Guns | 3:41 |
| 17. | "Empire Down" | 3:29 | |
| Total length: | 57:23 | ||
- Japan Edition has 16 tracks as it drops the track "Crystal Eyes"
Personnel
- Phil Lewis – lead vocals except on "Nothing Better to Do", acoustic guitar
- Tracii Guns – lead guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
- Mick Cripps – lead and rhythm guitar, piano, keyboards, bass on track 4, backing vocals
- Kelly Nickels – bass guitar, lead vocals on "Nothing Better to Do", backing vocals
- Additional musicians
- Guy Griffin – acoustic guitar on track 15
- Michael “Bones” Gersema – drums on tracks 1, 5, 9, 13–17, backing vocals on tracks 1, 13 and 14
- Myron Grombacher – drums on tracks 2, 10–12
- Nickey Alexander – drums on track 4
- Steve Riley – drums on track 7
- Doni Gray – drums on track 8
- Steve Councel – harmonica on track 8, 14 and 15, backing vocals on track 8
- Cliff Brodsky – piano on track 8
- Steve Dior – backing vocals on track 2
- Jim Wirt – backing vocals
- Production
- Jim Wirt – producer, engineer, mixing of tracks 6, 11 to 13
- Michael James Jackson – producer and engineer on "Crystal Eyes"
- Dan Daniel, Dennis Degher, Jeff Graham, Mark Shoffner, Marnie Riley, Tim Allison – assistant engineers
- Mick Guzauski – mixing of tracks 1 to 5, 7 to 10, 14, 15
- Stephen Marcussen – mastering
- Robert Bisbo – album cover art
Charts
| Chart (1995) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Japanese Albums (Oricon)[12] | 58 |
| UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[13] | 13 |