So what do they sound like?
They were an 80's Hard Rock (Heavy Rock?) band. Because they were heavy and had tattooes they are labelled "Metal" and were featured in the metal press. But they covered Motown and Soul songs and had a Blues meets Rock and Punk feel. I call this type of Metal: Biker/Southern Metal. But really they were just a rock n roll band. If you like bands like The Four Horsemen, Royal Court Of China, Rock City Angels, Salty Dog and Circus Of Power, .....if you just like good ol' ROCK N ROLL!
Vocalist Ron Young is one of the lost great frontmen of music. He is the perfect lead singer. Passionate, soulful, powerful, and able to do the slow stuff as well as the rockers. And the band could write and play rockers and ballads equally. Should have been huge!
I am not a big fan of "ballads" but this band did them (and still DO them) better than anyone and I think it is due to their love and knowledge of 60's Soul music.
Little Caesar - Rarities:
Their debut release was 'Down To The Wire' on the Street Survivors compilation
(a GREAT compilation by the way). This song was not released anywhere else.
Then came their debut EP - the 4 Track 'Name Your Poison'. And almost every one is a classic!
Chain Of Fools Cd Single (taken from their self titled debut)
Includes "dance!" remixes including "Massive Attack Mix"
(according to Massive Attack websites - it's not THE Massive Attack!) and
("Bonus Beats" version and "Instrumental" version).
All of which are pretty poor no matter what type of music you like.
Plus I have an oversized gatefold sleeve (with pop up bit!) which must be a PROMO, featuring:
Chain Of Fools (All Daypart Edit)
Chain Of Fools (LP Witout Intro)
Chain Of Fools (LP Version)
This Time It's Different (1998)
In 1998 Earl Slick, who was the guitarist on Little Caesar's 2nd album, released an album of unreleased Little Caesar songs. This has got to be the Holy Grail amongst Little Caesar fans.
It features unreleased songs and alternative versions from '88 to '92.
He released it on his own record label and this album is now long since deleted.
There are songs on here from right across the Little Caesar recordings and not just the Earl Slick era as you may expect. It's absolute gold dust.
Ron Young went on to record with Manic Eden featuring former Whitesnake members. While not as good as Little Caesar, still worth seeking out.