Spread Eagle
Open to the Public

Street metal and sleaze in its purest form, raw, crude, and wild!

This is what the Spread Eagle were, four damned souls spat out of hell to sing about frustration, hunger for sex ("Hot Sex" from the first album), revolution, and the worst things in this world. On the contrary, the best things are destined to disappear, and in fact, the members of the group returned to sail with Caron Dimonio along the Styx.

Great regret for these four Americans (although 3/4 of Italian origins, good blood doesn't lie!) in the figure of the talented singer Ray West, angry yet also able to express great passion; Paul Di Bartolo, a frenzied guitarist who skins the guitar as if it were the skin of a snake; Rob De Luca, a psychotic and psychopathic bassist who well siliconed the group, and finally the last infernal soul named Tommi Gallo, a drummer as precise and surgical as ever. 

I wanted to talk about all the anger they held in their debut self-titled album dated 1990, but I don't know why I've always preferred their second album "Open To The Public" from 1993. Maybe because for me it has always been more varied, reflective, thoughtful, and with a sexier "groove" (well, you can tell that some songs are arousing or something!), maybe also because I have a soft spot for unlucky bands like them, I couldn't help writing this review. 

So here we move from the epics of songs like the opener "Devil's Road", to the infinite sweetness of the concluding "Faith" with Ray West endowed with incredible sensitivity in this beautiful ballad. Strange but true, there are other cases of apparent calm: the carefree "Fade Away" or the sunny "Shine" (more sunny than this, the title says it all!).

Stop, here ends the calm because the album gets serious, as in more angry episodes like the infernal "King Of The Dogs" or "If I Can't Have You..." or in more thoughtful and decidedly intriguing songs like the beautiful "High Horses", with some nice choruses, and in the case of the classy hard rock of "This is My World". And what about "Revolution Maker"? Simply a punch to the stomach, with a central part that is nothing short of heart-stopping, with a grand melodic opening!

There are surprises, such as in the blues-oriented (Aerosmith style) "Preacher Man" or the Bang Tango-style funk of "Rhythm Machine". But the album itself is a continuous surprise... and meanwhile, I keep wondering how it's possible that a group like this had to throw in the towel: all the right cards were in place, what was wrong? Perhaps grunge? Honestly, I am not a psychologist, and I prefer not to answer these questions: I let the music win, and if Spread Eagle sings hell to me, I want to stay there for a long time!