TUFF - What Comes Around Goes Around.



Track List:
01. Ruck A Pit Bridge
02. The All New Generation
03. I Hate Kissing You Good-bye
04. Lonely Lucy
05. Ain't Worth A Dime
06. So many Seasons
07. Forever Yours
08. Wake Me Up
09. Spit Like This
10. Good Guys Wear Black

Band:
Stevie Rachelle - vocals
Jorge DeSaint - guitar and background vocals
Todd Chase - bass and background vocals
Michael Lean - drums, percussion and background vocals

Additional musicians apparently include Spike, Kane Roberts and Kristy "Krash" Majors.

This album was released in 1991, the same years as the album that killed glam metal as we know it. No, not Kane Roberts' "Saints and Sinners", Nirvana's "Nevermind". It kicks off with "Ruckapit Bridge", and maybe it's because I'm english, but i don't know what a "Ruckapit Bridge" is. Can anyone help me? Anyway, I enjoyed this song, it had a catchy chorus which never hurts, and I liked the solo. I was impressed with the harmonies throughout, some of the backing vocals were cool and sounded like they took a while to nail. I'm not sure about the "funk" at the end though!

The second track, "The All New Generation" probably seeme like a good idea at the time. It's a recap of the history of rock leading up to Tuff's attempts to take over the world. However, listening to it 16 years on I couldn't help but think it was strange that this track and album had come out at the same time that hair metal essentially died a death! It's also strange to hear Stevie giving love to Skid Row and Poison given his now well-documented hatred of them. I liked the tribute to "Hot For Teacher" at the end too. Listening to this song, it's clear that this was a prototype for what's probably Tuff's best known song, "American Hairband", released a few years ago.

"I Hate Kissing You Goodbye" is a really, really shameless attempt to have a "big rock ballad" hit. Stevie's voice works well on here, raspy vocals against the acoustic guitar, but the whole song is very, very generic, with a big singalong chorus. Good effort, but it's basically been done a million times, even by this point.

"Lonely Lucy" sounds like a Skid Row song. Oh, the irony. But I like Skid Row, so cos it's only happened once, I'm going to let them off.

Well, ok, twice. The intro to "Ain't Worth A Dime" really, really reminds me of "Piece Of Me". I guess I missed out, cos I was 10 years old in 1991, but it seems Skid Row were a big deal back then. Well, to Todd Chase the bass player at least.

"So Many Seasons" seems a little out of place here. It's not your average 80s hair metal ballad or anything like that, but it's another mid-tempo song with a big chorus, and I like it. That's not why it sounds out of place though, honest. It doesn't sound like something you'd find on the run of the mill glam band record from back then.

"Forever Yours" is up next, and within four seconds of it starting, I realise that the riff is a complete, total and utter knock off of "Young And Dumb" by the Scream. Or..... "Young And Dumb" by the Scream is a complete, total and utter knock off of the riff in "Forever Yours". I'm not sure. Let me check. Aha! "Young And Dumb" was on the "Encino Man" soundtrack, released in 1992. This came out in 1991. Sorry Stevie. Crabby, you oughtta be ashamed of yourself. My only criticism of this song, in that case, is that the breakdown section of the song seems really disjointed. A very "clean" sound to this song too.

"Wake Me Up" is another song that I thought was a really commercial attempt to get a hit out of the album. Apparently it didn't work.

Stevie chuckle kicks off "Spit Like This", a song which mentions that a woman is "built like bricks". Again, dear reader, I require your help here. How is that possible?! How can a woman be built like a brick? Was she red? Did she and her friends build a house? Was she covered in cement? Help me, please. Anyway, this had jangly guitar on it, and I like jangly guitar. Not high enough in the mix though. That's a complaint I have about a lot of this album actually, I'm not a huge fan of the production.

The final track is "Good Guys Wear Black", the title a bit of a cliche, but a cool way to finish the album, a simple but effective riff and some nice double bass drumming right at the end of the song.

For all of the stuff I've read on some sites about Tuff being a cheap Poison knock off, something which I know annoys Mr Rachelle on a personal level, I have to say I felt this album owed more to Skid Row than Poison. This may annoy him more, if he ever sees the review! I didn't think "What Comes Around Goes Around" was a bad album at all, just that it was fairly generic. When you look at some of the shit that got put out in the 80s and 90s, that's not a bad thing at all.

I mean, it was a million times better than "Crazy Nights".