Heavy Pettin appeared out of Glasgow in 1981 as the New Wave of British Heavy Metal was arguably at its zenith. Their debut album – Lettin Loose – is certainly a classic of the genre and recently seen a reissue along with the band’s other two albums, however Lettin Loose is (in my opinion) by far the superior of the three.
Other than the inability to use the letter “g” where it should be in both band name and album title, the debut album is a classic. A mixture of New Wave of British Heavy Metal, glam rock, big riffs, lots of power, big harmonies and scorching soloing.
Often compared to Def Leppard, Heavy Pettin at this time were in my opinion much, much better. Sure, Leppard stated off as a promising hard/heavy metal band and their debut EP showed that – then came that horrendous, overly-produced debut album and that was that with Leppard for me. Sure, they’ve made squillions of pounds and good luck to them – now back to Heavy Pettin.
Every song on Lettin Loose holds the attention. In and Out of Love a sort of a band anthem. Punchy hard rocker, huge hook. It’s not unlike early Bon Jovi when they were good – though remember that Lettin Loose came out a few years before BJ’s debit – so we JV the American Heavy Pettin……..?
Broken Heart, Love on the run and Love Times Love heavy it up apace with all those riffs, chords, solos and huge vocal hooks and melodies.
Victims of the Night a particular favourite. The intro builds in to a swinging rocker with a machine gun spitting riff, snarling vocals and more of those excellent cutting solos. Even has some slower parts here and there. Have a listen:
Rock Me does just that. Shout it Out another monster shout-out anthemic style job. And Hell is Beautiful punches away wonderfully.
A killer debut album involving Brian May in the production, super-high profile support slots with the likes of Kiss, Ozzy, and others and all the media attention a young band could wish for – what could go wrong – surely a matter of time before the area tours followed.
Well, not quite. Seems that the record company might not have been that bothered. Two albums followed which went further and further away from the punchy rock of Lettin Loose in to more AOR territory and, if I recall correctly, the ultimate career killer – Eurovision. How the heck anybody thought that getting the band involved in that nonsense was a good move, who knows.
And that was that. Game over.
However – Lettin Loose remains a huge album and as fresh today as it was in 1981. A proper classic slab of NWOBHM-era goodness as good as any other.