What would you call a band that featured Nasty Suicide and Andy McCoy from Hanoi Rocks, as well as Dave Tregunna from Sham 69/Lords Of The New Church and Terry Chimes from various line-ups of The Clash and Generation X? A damn good idea. Throw in an attractive female vocalist - Anita Chellemah who cut her teeth in Toto Coelo - and you would think Rock and Roll Nirvana was right around the corner. Somehow it didn't work out that way, though. It's a little hard to pin point exactly why, but despite a lot of decent press and relentless gigging, the Bombz never quite ignited. Their sole long player was this live LP that was recorded at the Marquee in 1986. While "Coming Down Slow" doesn't completely answer the question of why this band flopped, it does showcase two failings of the group, and why they are known to this day as an Hanoi Rocks footnote. First and most glaringly are Chellemah's vocals. Her voice just can't carry this material. The bloozy/glam punk sounds that the band serve up cry out for a far stronger set of pipes. Chellemah sounds game enough and gets an A for effort, but this band really needed someone along the lines of Texacala Jones or Ann Wilson in her barracuda days. Chellemah sounds like she was plucked off the nearest bar stool, a generic female rasper.

Secondly, the songs are also a little on the forgettable side as well, with the exception of the title track and "Pin Up Boy". Imagine all the weaknesses of Hanoi Rocks and none of their strengths and you get the picture. Furthermore, four of the eleven proper songs are covers to begin with. What can you say about a band who upstage themselves with a version of Loverboy's "Hot Girls In Love"? (funny enough, but so what?). Someone should also have nixed their demolition of CCR's "Travellin' Band" as well. "Coming Down Slow" isn't horrible, but it is a sharp disappointment. Mostly I've held onto it all these years as proof that members of The Clash and Sham actually did wear bolero style finery and eye liner at one point. The band didn’t last much longer after this salvo and eventually morphed into yet another McCoy side project called The Wylde Ones, if my memory serves me correctly. I'm sure someone in Finland, where anything that has anything to do with Hanoi Rocks is immediately huge, could supply those who absolutely must know with a more detailed account of the band. For me, this is about all the cherry pie I need. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.