Garbage Days Revisited #72: Keel - "Lay Down The Law" (1984)

 

"It takes you to the limit/Eats you up and cuts you to the bone/It's all I need to get to where I'm goin'...fast..." - Keel - Speed Demon

It's been a common theme for a lot of our GDR and SFTJ entries regarding hair metal or sleaze rock bands that sometimes big and dumb just works way better than trying to be clever. From AC/DC through Smashed Gladys, Zodiac Mindwarp and Cats In Boots all the way up to Broken Teeth and Buckcherry, sometimes three chords, a decent sledgehammer riff and a chantalong chorus just gets the job done like nothing else.

Keel, one of the earlier Sunset Strip bands, are another example of this...but sadly only for one album. But hell, WHAT an album - their debut Lay Down The Law is one of those records that's so gloriously stoopid that you would literally have to have a huge chunk of your brain removed not to "get" the message herein (let's rock out essentially). But even if just for this one brief moment, they properly captured that whole lightning in a bottle "drink a beer and shout the chorus until your lungs give out" ethos that sums up the best bands in this genre perfectly.

Keel were formed out of the ashes of Steeler, a very early Sunset Strip band, by frontman Ronnie Keel (hence the name). Steeler were there right at the beginning of the Sunset Strip years with the likes of Crue, Ratt, Hellion et al. Notably their line-up also included a young Yngwie Malmsteen and it's probably not a surprise that with two planet-sized egos jostling for space that their shelf life was limited - the band lasted just the one album before Malmsteen went off to join Alcatrazz with ex-Rainbow singer Graham Bonnet and bassist Rik Fox would move on to an early line-up of W.A.S.P. Leaving Ronnie, modest as ever, to form Keel.

The group would sign to Metal Blade with the early Keel line-up including future L.A. Guns drummer Steve Riley (who would split for W.A.S.P. almost as soon as the album was finished) and guitarist Marc Ferrari who would go on to be in the house band for Wayne's World. And with Lay Down The Law, they came up with a proto-sleaze metal classic. One part Kiss, one part Judas Priest, songs like the title track, Thunder And Lightning and the chantalong Metal Generation are about as subtle as a stampeding rhino but dammit, they work. Like Twisted Sister, it's OTT, daft as a brush and just very likeable. Best of all is the ode to dangerous driving Speed Demon with its chugging Maiden style riff and screeched vocals from Keel which make Axl sound like Barry White. They even manage to get away with an absolute bludgeoning of the Rolling Stones' Let's Spend The Night Together to finish the album with. Ignore the ill-advised power ballad Princess of Illusion and you've pretty much got a perfect no-brainer headbanger album right here.

Unfortunately it kind of worked too well. Lay Down The Law brought Keel to the attention of Gene Simmons who promptly became their manager, got them signed to a major and rushed them back into the studio for a follow-up, clearly before the band was ready. The net result, 1985's The Right To Rock, has the storming opening title track in its favour (another gleefully meatheaded chantalong which could have easily sat on the band's debut) but the rest consists of unnecessary re-recordings of tracks from Lay Down The Law with the rough edges smoothed off and a bunch of unremarkable newies co-penned by Simmons. Their third album, 1987's Final Frontier, had a cool front cover and a very ill-advised cover of Patti Smith's Because The Night as its lead-off single and...well, that was that really. The band began to fracture with members bailing out. Keel managed to stagger on to a fourth self-titled album (have to be honest, never heard it) and split soon afterwards.

Keel have reformed intermittently since with Ronnie also going on to form country rockers Iron Horse while the band were on hiatus but really, ignore the rest of their back catalogue and head straight for that debut album. It's a perfect getting ready soundtrack for nights out at the rock club and feeling the highway scream (should you be so inclined). Yup, they may well have completely flamed out quality wise soon afterwards but for that one brief glorious moment in 1984, Keel were arguably the hardest rocking band on the Sunset Strip and Lay Down The Law is all the proof you'll need.