Samantha 7
Samantha 7
Profile / C2 Records, 2000
REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 02/01/2001
C.C. Deville might come off as being the clown prince of '80srock these days. He's survived harrowing days of drug addiction andcome out of it with the same unbridled energy he had during theglory days of Poison. Yet some people probably winced when theyheard that not only was Deville starting his own side band,Samantha 7, but that he would be the group's lead vocalist aswell.
Well, stop wincing. For all the antics Deville has been involvedin, he proves on Samantha 7's 11-song, self-titled debut that he'sno idiot when it comes to making music, and this disc, while a tadshort, proves that fantasies can still come true, even when you'velived out most of your own.
With a backing band of bassist/vocalist Krys Baratto and drummerFrancis Ruiz, Deville and crew pound out their music with the sameintensity as a punk band from the '70s would. They come in, deliverthe goods, and get out before the bulk of the party guests knowwhat hit them. And maybe that's the way good rock and roll shouldbe.
Tracks like "Hanging Onto Jane," "Slave Laura" and "Framed" notonly capture a humorous side of Deville that maybe he couldn'texpress in Poison, but it proves to the world that the man canactually sing. Granted, he won't be doing opera any time soon (andI think Deville would readily admit that; my dealing with him,while pleasant, was a brief encounter), but he's no slouch when itcomes to his own material. Some may say that he wrote the songs tofit his voice... well, what's wrong with that?
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