Stephen I won't argue when people said that Priscilla was heavily influenced by Pretty Boy Floyd and Poison, sure that the influence is very close to their music, but quality is another story, and I'm talking about a sad story here. Priscilla, like many bands that popped out today from nowhere, is another American glam guerilla gang that went underground back when hair metal rules the day, but that's because their music is so typical and formulaic, not a single major label was attracted to them.

To be honest, I don't have any problem for a band being a copycat, but at least they have to do it good. Most of the songs here are horrendously terrible, bad composition, bad vocal, bad production, and forgettable solos. Tracks like "Wake Up The Neighborhood" and "Lick N' A Kiss", that they claimed to be their hit, are merely a rip-off with a repetitive and monotonous chorus. "Love In Action", "Can't Wait For The Night", and "Rocked Outta Love" are too cheesy to be true. "Always Thinking of You" is a shallow ballad attempt I can't stand to listen for another minute. Probably "Gimme Lovin' (Tonight)" and "Just Can't Stop" are two potential tracks but still too many weaknesses obviously shown with several out-of-key solos and superficial lyrics. And you can forget the rest of five demo tracks, I'm afraid you might hurt your ears. Probably another tasteless effort by Suncity Records to cash out some bucks, this one is avoidable for sure.

JettJaguar This is one of the coolest,underground gems that I've come across since discovering the infamous Big Bang Babies from California,some years ago.I would describe this album as being somewhere of a cross between the aforementioned Big Bang Babies,early Poison,Tuff,and Pretty Boy Floyd.The singer sounds like a dead on ringer between a young Bret Michaels and Steve Summers,with that high end glam vibrato.The songs fit right in to something that you might find on Look What The Cat Dragged In,with the guitars executing every catchy hook known to man.Standout cuts include Wake Up The Neighborhood,Love In Action,Lick n' A Kis,and a demo of the cd's title song,High Fashion,although the quality of this song is obviously just an underground demo.I did,however,recently come across a fine quality version of this song,and some other new ones,from this band on some web download sites.The songs are definitely worth checking out.I would certainly recommend this album to any fans of 1980's glam metal and,especially,to any early Poison fans.

Cat Casino A really great debut album from a band that sounds almost exactly like the early version of Poison.In fact,Priscilla's High Fashion sounds like a cross between Look What The Cat Dragged In and Leather Boyz With Electric Toyz from Pretty Boy Floyd,to be precise.Wake up the Neighborhood,Lick N' A Kiss,Love In Action,Gimme Lovin' Tonight,and Some like It Hot are all awesome songs.The singer sounds almost dead on like Bret Michaels and the guitarists display some really sweet glam chops.The demo tracks on this album leave something to be desired as far as quality goes,but feature two of the strongest standout cuts in High Fashion and High Tonight.If you're into underground glam and old school L.A.-sounding glam,than this album is a must have.

Bomb Brigade So much has been written on all of the internet blogs and bulletins lately that this is the band that is going to swoop up from the underground and save rock n' roll as we know and love it.What's a lesser known fact is that this band shares much the same history as their sleaze rock compatriots The Backyard Babies,who formed in 1987,only to disband for some time,as guitarist Dregen pursued his musical endeavors with The Hellacopters,and later rejoined to reform the group in 1997. Priscilla had also,actually,been formed way back in 1987,at which point they struggled together for nearly four years to garner a major label deal.It was during this period that most of the songs on this album were recorded.The band then disbanded,while singer El Mar Kramer pursued other musical endeavors,only to reform the group in 2009.

Although the band's current sound is much more reflective of the current crop of harder European sleaze rock,the High Fashion disc shares more similarities with the straight forward glam movement of the Los Angeles Hollywood Blvd. scene circa the mid to late 1980s.Many have compared the band's sound to Pretty Boy Floyd or early Poison,but I am going to dig deeper than that.In fact,the tone of this album is very similar to the works of L.A.'s 1980's glam monsters Tryx or,even more so,Big Bang Babies(very poppy,groove-oriented,and commercially appealing),who were said to have been heavily influenced by this band.Also,singer El Mar Kramer's voice is,at times,the spitting image of BBB singer Kit Ashley's voice(or would that be vice versa?).At any rate,El mar delivers these songs with the perfect sleaze and pop tone for his musical environment. The disc starts out with the war cry Hey,America! and then launches into what was the band's biggest radio hit of the 80's,the aptly-named WAKE UP THE NEIGHBORHOOD;the band's tip of the hat to the glam anthems of the day.Although a very powerful and catchy anthem,I find the album's next track,LICK N' A KISS,to be an altogether more potent delivery of the similar goods.One listen to this song will keep its ultra-catchy tagline repeating in your head for days.Then,we find ourselves at the disc's highlight,of its non-demo tracks;LOVE IN ACTION is a straight-forward,take-no-prisoners hard rocker that would fit right at home on L.A.Guns' debut album or,for that matter,on any present day Hardcore Superstar album worth its salt.A tale of lust and sexuality(perhaps with a prostitute?),delivered with sheer,go for the throat,unbridled enthusiasm.Its breakneck pace delivers a full-on,deadly explosive payload in just two and one half minutes.SOME LIKE IT HOT is another nitro-laden piece of combustible hardware,with a very unique quality to its guitar sound and El Mar's gutter-sleaze vocals fitting right in the appropriate pocket.GIMME LOVIN' TONIGHT,JUST CAN'T STOP,and BROKEN ANGEL(these three being most reminiscent of Big Bang Babies and Tryx)are all instantly memorable,glam rock tours de force.All three of these would have been surefire,runaway chart toppers for this band,in their respective day,would these guys have scored major label recognition.On these,the comparison to a commercially viable band,such as Poison,are inevitable,as they are very mainstream flavored,almost as if they had been specifically manufactured thusly with a consumer audience in mind. The demos on this disc certainly do leave something to be desired,in terms of sound recording quality(sounding that they are,indeed,basement variety demos),but do not let that detour you from giving a listen to two of the most potent pieces of hard rock to come along in some time:HIGH TONIGHT and HIGH FASHION are both equal parts the pièce de résistance of this entire disc.Brilliantly composed and executed in their non-subtle attack;first hitting you over the head when you aren't looking,and then breaking your neck with their whiplash musical assault.These are said to be the lead off tracks from the band's forthcoming album,having already found release in the form of music videos,giving the listener a glimpse into what this band has been up to lately.If the rest of the material on the new disc is anything like these,this band just might bring back rock n' roll as we know and love it!

High Fashion is absolutely necessary listening for any fan of the late 80's underground glam rock movement,and should find its place right at the head of your record library,alongside Three Chords And The Truth by the Big Bang Babies.

Britney After reading Stephen's review of the Priscilla "High Fashion" disc,I felt compelled to offer my opinion on this release,and not simply vent my personal vendetta with the band.

Firstly,although having been influenced by Poison ,to some degree,Priscilla already existed and had their sound firmly intact before Pretty Boy Floyd even existed.In fact,one could even go so far as to say that PBF was,in fact,influenced by Priscilla,as the latter band's manager,Mitch Karczewski,had paired the two bands up on a number of bills when PBF first came through the Ohio area.At that time,PBF only had a select number of the songs written that would go on to compose the entire "Leather Boys With Electric Toys" album,nearly a full year after those show dates.The songs on "Leather Boys..." would actually go on to show some drastic lyrical similarities to many of the songs which Priscilla had already been performing for some time at that point.Who had really influenced who here?Priscilla,more clearly,had been influenced,far greater,by fellow Ohio transplants to the Sunset Strip Sweet Savage,or by an earlier wave of power pop bands such as Starz,Angel,or even The Raspberries.Just one listen to the band's catchy refrains,instantly recognizable choruses,and pop sensibilities will prove this to be true.

Furthermore,to say that no major label was interested in Priscilla is a complete and utter fallacy.Nearly every major label in America,including Atlantic and MCA,had,not only been attracted to,but had offered Priscilla major deals.When three of the band's songs (Wake Up The Neighborhood,Lick N' A Kiss,and Love In Action-all three being all-time,underground glam classics and whose composition any true and honest fan of the glam genre would find to be exactly the ingredient which made this genre of music so endeared in the first place)all obtained top 20 status on national metal radio station Z-Rock,the world was brought to the band's door,as they had attained what seemed to be nearly unachievable."Wake Up The Neighborhood" would not have gone on to sell twenty thousand copies,as the band's first official record release,were it merely excusable trife.It was only due to poor executive decisions on behalf of the band that Priscilla did not garner a major deal at that time.Legend has it that,it was only after Priscilla passed on a record deal with MCA,that the label decided to sign with Pretty Boy Floyd. To call Priscilla nothing more than a glam guerilla gang is,to put it mildly,a grave injustice.They are,moreover,a carefully crafted and calculated group of genius songwriters,and the "High Fashion" disc showcases what are their earliest efforts and can be seen as the beginnings of true greatness(being that the majority of the band's members were only eighteen at the time they wrote and recorded this),much in the same way as the Def Leppard Bludgeon Riffola records shed light onto the birth of a true future rock giant,still in its infancy.

El Mar Kramer's vocals on this disc are nothing short of brilliant for the type of music which the enigmatic frontman caters to here;imagine a cross somewhere between an early Vince Neil or Bret Michaels,or,comparable to the modern day likes of Simon Cruz(Crash Diet)or Lizzy DeVine(Vains Of Jenna).El Mar achieves the perfect sonic pitch,with a drawl of sleaze and brattiness,to deliver the goods for his brand of music.As for "out of notes" guitar solos,did the previous critic here mean to say out of key guitar solos?Master producer/engineer Sean Beavan(at the head of this particular album)would never have allowed that.As for superficial lyrics...isn't that just,exactly what 80's era glam was all about,to a large degree?"Nothin' But A Good Time","Bathroom Wall",or "Round And Round" didn't win any awards for literature in their day.

As far as the remainder of the demo tracks on this disc,three of the four tracks(not five,as mentioned),"High Tonight","High Fashion",and "Fade Away",are instant classics and,to suggest that the poor 4 track quality of the production should hinder any genre fan from giving them a listen,is simply a pure and simple injustice.I,again,refer you to the Def Leppard Bludgeon Riffola tapes,or even the earliest recorded efforts of Guns N' Roses;quality of song is not impeded by quality of rendering. Plain and simple,Priscilla's "High Fashion" disc is a masterpiece of the underground glam movement and should be listened to and heralded by any true fan of the medium.This disc will be a sure-fire hit with anyone that ever dreamed of what it was like to hit the Sunset Strip in its lipstick and 'liner heyday,clad in a full face of make-up and their snakeskin boots,wanting to sing along to its respective soundtrack.