In a time where the Ratt gang is battling on who owns what, who is suing who, it is no wonder Stephen Pearcy took it upon himself to re-record a bunch of Ratt classic songs. Why it is called Mickey Ratt is beyond me because most of these songs do not come from the Mickey Ratt era…some of them do though. Plus, he couldn’t call it straight up Ratt with all the lawsuits now could he.

The LP version is what I have which was released back in 2020. My copy has the pretty cool Pink LP and the album has 16 re-recorded Ratt songs with a little help from some of his friends including George Lynch and Tracii Guns. The cover is bad, the picture on the back is bad and the sound of the record is…well…not that bad. The early Ratt / Mickey Ratt songs sounded rough, raw and almost garage style, so these were recorded with that old sound and songs that dated back to the Mickey Ratt time frame, but recorded by Ratt sound like the old Mickey Ratt sound and not the polished production Ratt albums had. And I kind of dig that.

George Lynch plas on about 5 songs including the opener “Round And Round”. The song sounds good enough, but I hate to say this, George is no Warren DeMartini so I don’t like the guitar sound on the re-recording much at all. Sorry George, I’ve never really been a fan although you are superbly talented!! And the overall recording is no where near as good as the original…the same goes with most of these.

There are some exceptions though. Songs like “You Think You’re Tough”, “U Got It” and “Sweet Cheater” actually sound pretty good with a little beefed up production. These songs were from the Rat debut E.P. back in 1983 and a little rough around the edges. So, these aren’t half bad here…I can’t believe I said that.

“Lack of Communication” doesn’t hold up well both from a production standpoint and vocal effects. The original from ‘Out of the Cellar’ can’t be beat. Then Tracii Guns joins in on “Lay it Down” and that opening riff sounds the same as the original recording on ‘Invasion of Your Privacy’. Tracii throws in a few little extras here and there as that is his style and it isn’t a bad version at all, it is just if I want to hear any of these songs I’m going to the original version first and probably always.

Flipping over to side 2, it kicks off with “You’re in Love” and honestly another fine version just not the original, duh. Tracii is back for “Back for More” and what I love about this one is that this is the version from the E.P. as it has that weird bass note that pops up every now and again…glad they kept that.

The last four songs are all George Lynch and first is “I’m Insane” which is a song I love here, but this version lacks the heart of the song both vocally and musically. Just a lesser version when it is done down and dirty like this. But the main reason I wanted this was the next two tracks. First is “Dr. Rock” which is a Mickey Ratt song for sure. This was first released on the Ratt album ‘Collage’ and one of the few on their I liked. To now have a version on vinyl, I’m quite excited about. The song kicks a little ass.

The other track I wanted was “Drivin’ on E” which is another early Micky Ratt song. I didn’t have this song anywhere in my collection so this is really the main reason I wanted this release was for this one. And it doesn’t disappoint. It has that early Mickey Ratt sound and Stephen sounds great. A solid rocking track.

The last song on the E.P. is “Top Secret” which goes all the back to 1977, but Ratt didn’t release a version until 1990. This version is the old Mickey Ratt song for sure and not the ‘Detonator’ version. I love the old school style, but I have the ‘Collage’ version already and again, I am not a fan of Lynch’s playing so he being on these songs does nothing for me. I like his work in Dokken, but otherwise, ehh.

And that is it. Is this worth buying? Oh, hell no!! This is for the collector, and I like to collect Ratt albums so that is why I have this one and the only reason…except for “Driven on E” and “Dr. Rock”. Outside of that, there is no reason. I’m not a fan of artists re-recording their old hits and this is no different. I give it a point for the 2 songs I wanted and 1 for the cool pink vinyl. So, My Overall Score is a 2.0 out of 5.0 Stars. If you are a massive fan, it is a good listen for a couple of times, then you want to go back to the original versions and you probably won’t come back.