The late '90s saw an onslaught of bands that were heavily influenced by the barroom boogie of
Motörhead and
AC/DC, as groups such as
Nashville Pussy cranked up their Marshalls to ten and gleefully roared away. Come the early 21st century, there were even more groups covering the same ground, including
the Last Vegas, and their 2003 full-length debut,
Lick 'Em and Leave 'Em. But there is one glaring difference between the aforementioned groups led by Lemmy and Angus and the new bucks -- the originators had no problem penning instantly memorable, anthemic tunes (no doubt due to the fact that both had studied their old rock & roll records). And this is precisely what the new wave of tough bar rock tends to overlook. Case in point, there's an abundance of turbo-charged riffs on
Lick 'Em, but memorable songs there are not. And it soon becomes apparent that lyrics are not the group's strongest area (such as the following tidbit from "She Won't Go" -- "When you showed up, you said you want to party naked/You say you want a little rock & roll"). The band does manage to do an admirable job of capturing high-energy performances throughout the album, which only reinforces that
the Last Vegas may be best experienced on-stage. ~ Greg Prato