Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Wrabit - West Side Kid (1983)

And finally, by request, Wrabit's third and final album, "West Side Kid". Issued in 1983, the album marks a clear decline in songwriting for the band. The signature sound has been diluted to mere run-of-the-mill arena rock and it's evident from the opening strains of "Waiting", that this is a band going through the motions. Keyboards take a more prominent role in the proceedings and the vocals have taken a turn towards hard rock histrionics with little dynamic texturing. Put honestly, this is the weakest of this fine band's output. Sounding like a weaker latter day Rainbow, the tracks here just lack the distinctiveness they need to be memorable. There's nothing here offensively bad, but there's nothing here that demands you attention either. In spite of this album's weaknesses, "West Side Kid" is worthy of a second look...if anything, to contrast the the two stronger albums that came before it. This completes the recorded output by Wrabit. Snag this one to complete the collection.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks!. Now I have all 3 Wrabits.
You're right, this final one don't even come close to the first two. The only track that has any trace of good vibes is the title track. Brilliant drive. Sounds a bit like ToTo meets Steely Dan!.

Anonymous said...

They must have known there was at least one band called Rabbit(t), as well as Eddie Rabbitt, so they took some poetic licence.