The Rods＜Blue Vinyl＞

The Rods' self-produced independent debut album, 1980's Rock Hard, accomplished its primary mission of obtaining the fledgling heavy rock trio from upstate New York a major-label deal, and with none other than Clive Davis' Arista Records, which at the time was better known for housing soft rockers like Air Supply and the Alan Parsons Project, not to mention Barry Manilow! But the signing didn't come without a few minor concessions, and the Rods were in fact made to re-record the album under more "professional" circumstances, while replacing a few of its less "tasteful" cuts (e.g., "In Your Panties") prior to its 1981 release. And, for a final touch, the newly self-titled LP was repackaged inside a suspiciously Ramones-like photo of the denim- and leather-clad musicians leaning up against a crumbling brick wall, leading to some speculation that Arista mistakenly thought they'd signed a punk rock band. But there was literally nothing punk-like about the metal-plated heavy rock dominating the final results, which essentially ran the gamut of '70s-born influences one would expect from a trio of seasoned vets like these. Only problem was, the Rods were still so personally invested in those influences that they never quite managed to establish a focused style of their own with these excellent but invariably derivative songs. To be fair, bluesy rockers like "Woman," "Get Ready to Rock & Roll," and "Roll with the Night" could have originated anywhere from Elvis to Fleetwood Mac to AC/DC, but other tracks nicked instantly recognizable bits from specific metal classics, such as Deep Purple's "Highway Star" (for the bridge of "Power Lover") and Black Sabbath's "Neon Knights" (see the opening riff used for the high-powered "Nothing Going on in the City"). Others owed their entire frameworks to well-known metal classics, including "Music Man" (based on Rainbow's "Man on the Silver Mountain"), "Rock Hard" (part AC/DC, part Scorpions), and "Ace in the Hole" (Triumph, although it was written by future Vinnie Vincent Invasion singer Robert Fleischman), leaving barely any room for the blustery '80s metal that the Rods would eventually latch onto, aside from the excellent "Crank It Up." In the Rods' defense, though, their powerful delivery, superlative musicianship, and sheer balls still managed to override this album's innumerable borrowed sounds and non-cohesive set list, making it darn near impossible to resist for any but the most jaded fans of pre-peroxide American '80s metal. Nevertheless, this excessive reliance on '70s influences is the only thing holding the Rods' debut back from a "pick of the crop" nod, which instead must go to its more self-possessed successor, Wild Dogs. [The 1997 reissue of The Rods by High Vaultage Records contains two bonus tracks drawn from the original LP version, "Getting Higher" and "Wings of Fire" -- the second of which showcases the band's proto-thrash energy to perfection.] ~ Eduardo Rivadavia