Gerry Laffy – ‘Rocks’ (GL Records)

By DJ Monk

The name Gerry Laffy should most definitely be one recognized immediately by each and every self-respecting ÜR reader. He was, after all, one of the founding members of legendary, and ultimately ill-fated, Über Kingdom glamsters Girl, even if he very much played second fiddle (or should that be guitar) to his later more notorious band mates Phil Collen and Phil Lewis. Although they imploded after just three short years and two albums, their legacy undoubtedly lives on – something Laffy himself recognized in the early 1990s, when he formed what was widely regarded as Girl “tribute” in Sheer Greed, named after his former band’s first album and featuring his bass playing brother Simon and one-time Girl drummer Pete Barnacle.

While Messrs Collen and Lewis undoubtedly have enjoyed higher profiles in the intervening years, there is no doubt that Laffy has enjoyed a successful post-Girl career, musically and, not least, behind the scenes as manager of the legendary film and music video director Russell Mulcahy throughout the latter half of the 1980s and into the late Nineties. However, at the turn of the new millennium, he all but turned his back on the music industry and returned to his first love art, subsequently developing a client list that would leave most Hollywood party organizers blushing with embarrassment that they’re gracing his shindigs… However, after two decades interspersed with only brief returns to the recording studio (in 2007 and 2013, when he released two albums within almost as many months), he is once again is preparing to record new music, with a new solo album planned for next year.

Hence the reason for this compilation, which basically covers most of the bases of Laffy’s musical adventures since the aforementioned implosion of the band with which he made his name. Unlike most musicians, it seems that Laffy has a fairly astute business head and had the sense to hold on to the rights to not only his solo and Sheer Greed material but also to Girl’s back catalogue as well: and the whole bloody lot is now scheduled to be re-released by Cherry Red, including two new Girl boxsets which will feature between them an amazing eight studio and live albums!

Unfortunately, it has to be said that, by and large, ‘Rocks’ is not much more than a curio which will appeal almost solely to the diehard purist who insists on everything ever released by certain artists. However, by the same token, it is also a worthy taster from what to expect when that extensive back catalogue sees the light of day once again in the latter part of the year (no definite release dates have yet been announced). Personally, I’m somewhat disappointed by the fact that there are only two Sheer Greed tracks included – ‘Everybody Wants’ from 1992’s sole studio opus, ‘Sublime To The Ridiculous’, which saw him re-united with Messrs Collen and Lewis, and ‘Burn It Down’ from the following year’s ‘Live In London’ farewell release – but then this is, as I said, a taster of what is to come from the man’s archive.

It also has to be said that, with a few exceptions, the majority of the album is fairly bland Eighties/Nineties/Noughties chart-oriented pop rock, a la ‘Shoot Em Down’, which featured on the soundtrack to ‘Highlander II’ and sounds dated in the extreme. That is until we get to the chosen contributions from the long-lost 2007 ‘Icebox Studio Sessions’, and especially ‘The Detriment Of Leslie Law’ and ‘Don’t Say It’, both of which feature crunching riffs which would have the likes of Slash wishing he had ground them out. Slightly later, the instrumental ‘NHS’ and the closing tripych of ‘Monkey Man’/’High’/’Another Man’, from the ‘Just A Little Blurred’ and ‘Wrecked But Not Crushed’ releases respectively, also hint at their producer’s former rock pedigree, but struggle to rise above the overall level of disinterest exhibited by the rest of the collection.

As I said, this is very much a sampler, which will interest purists and maybe, hopefully, pique interest in the forthcoming back catalogue re-issues. Personally, I’d wait for the latter and then cherry (red?) pick your way through them to find the nuggets.

‘Rocks’ is released on Thursday (20 April).