The acrimonious departure of
Michael Aston left brother
Jay Aston with the remaining bandmembers, along with plenty of questions regarding whether or not the group could continue without the tense energy that the siblings brought to their songwriting and performance. The end result was, on the one hand, the least
GLJ-like record made yet, but on the other a fairly strong rocker all around. If the days of
Promise and
Immigrant were long gone, the foursome avoided the missteps of
The House of Dolls to create a more effective mix between raunch-rock and elegant dissipation. Producer
Tim Palmer did a particularly fine job, picking up from initially failed sessions run by
Paul Fox. "Jealous," the group's opening number, is at once both a stab at the neo-L.A. glam-metal market and something which actually toasts most efforts in that field, and in fact, also rocks out hard. Aston's sassy vocals and echoes of
Robert Plant, Stephenson's killer main riff, Bell's basic but effective pound, and Palmer's ear for sharp arrangement connect perfectly. Similarly high-spirited numbers like "It'll End in Tears" and "Two Shadows" are basic but good, dumb fun, with Aston offering up lyrics of romantic doubt over the serviceable music. The energetic "Tangled Up in You" uses an acoustic guitar for its chief energy but otherwise has little to do with
Bob Dylan. As for the more beautifully mysterious side of the group, the title track and especially the concluding "I Die for You," with a guitar line arranged to sound like a harpsichord, let Aston sing in calmer, moodier settings, and quite effectively so at that. The secret highlight of the album is "Why Can't I," a lengthy number that starts with a steady drum throb, then builds over its length into a massive electric roar that lets Stephenson pull off some feedback showboating while Aston delivers his desperate love lyric ever more intensely.