In '88 you might say this co-ed Ohio bunch, had considerable competition from another gaggle of Roses. That said, even if Axl and Slash weren't marauding the charts,
In Fear of Roses likely wouldn't have enjoyed much greater visibility. That's not merely because they were confined to a modest, local indie label, rather
Beat the Drum, while possessing some choice numbers, lacks a definitive m.o. "Clouds" is a ballsy, driving opener, yet few of the LP's ten subsequent songs share it's punchy demeanor. Elsewhere, there's tasty ska-lite seasoning infiltrating "Living in a Movie World," "Big Lightning" touches on U.S. foreign policy, "Do You Remember" coincidentally or not taps into what the Feelies were dabbling in around the same era, and the
Georgi Smith-fronted "Those Eyes," results in one of
Beat the Drum's most compelling moments. The aforementioned highlights would've made for a dandy EP, but even when this crew lapses into auto-pilot mode there's really nothing terribly egregious to complain about here either.
01. Clouds
02. Dangerous Intercourse
03. Sunday Blues
04. Living in a Movie World
05. Big Lightning
06. Holy Barbarians
07. Do You Remember
08. Those Eyes
09. Just Like Kerouac
10. Straight and Narrow
11. Teatime in El Salvador (WFS)
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