Collector's Frenzy Review of Trixie's Lift You Up

The new rock bands today are typically influenced by the band across the street who got signed to a major label and is making money and touring. Screw the music you grew up with and loved; just copy everyone around you and keep everything monochromatic. Oh, and no guitar solos, please. Those are trite as hell.

Flipping those untalented lithographers the bird is a band out of San Francisco called Trixie. That’s right, Trixie. They are unabashedly influenced by the likes of Motley Crue, Def Leppard, and you’ll even notice a hint of Trixter. You’ll get a little bit of everything in Trixie’s new CD, Lift You Up, and you’ll definitely and defiantly hear some guitar solos, too.

“The Touch” tears the album open with a scream by singer Ronnie Borchert, who also plays guitar and keyboards. Borchert has Vince Neil’s nasal sleaze down to a science, but he is not a clone by any means. While Motley Crue seems to be the most obvious reference here, Autograph jumps in as well. Lyrically, well, they won’t win any Edgar’s here, with lines like, “Hey baby — where you going; hey baby — enjoy the showing,” but they aren’t writing a mystery here. Just good rock and roll, and it works.

This album seems to flow as smoothly as a Jameson on the rocks, adeptly swerving into track 2, “Love Me Now.” Another Crue-ish rocker, guitarist Sam Egan has a chance to show off his chops, and wail he does. Another fun, good rocker.

“Escape” has a little more soul than the first two tracks. This one chugs and churns, mired in sexual nuances, and the background vocals shine. Think Def Leppard before they went sour.

Now, a staple of hair bands is the ballad. When you get to the last track, “Goodbye,” you are thinking for sure an acoustic song is coming your way. Well eat dirt, cuz Trixie isn’t here to serenade you. In fact, they redeem themselves with this Faster Pussycat colored anti-love song. Fast, heavy, clean, the lyrics are caustic and the melodies are top notch. Plus, Egan rips another guitar solo, making it the best song on the entire CD.

Their real ballad is a song less than 2 minutes in length, “Lift You Up.” This spare song shows another side of the band, proving that if they want to, they can do it all.

Couple this fun, raunchy, melodic and worthy group of songs with crystal clear production, and fans of ‘80s metal should drool all over themselves when they get this—and not just because of the wicked hot and naked Jen Hilton on the cover. Trixie does it right, so do them right, and pick up Lift You Up.