Mona Lisa – The Collection – Part 2 – The “Lost US Jewels” Collectors Series – Vol. 18 – 2024, MP3+FLAC

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Presented for the first time on CD carefully remastered from the original tapes, here’s ”MONA LISA – The Collection Part 2”, the Volume 18 of the much acclaimed “Lost U.S. Jewels” Series.

MONA LISA was put together during 1987 by drummer L.A. Roberts and bass-player Ray St. Michael, in the Maryland area, after that the couple played for some years, previously, in a few local bands. With the addition of vocalist Rick Thomas and guitar-wizard Don De Olivera, the band was complete and ready to Rock.
All the ’80s recordings from MONA LISA were included into ‘The Collection Part 1’, now this “MONA LISA – The Collection Part 2” features their ’90s, starting with the marvelous 8-track debut-album ‘The Art Of Seduction’ from 1991.
Tracks like ‘Name Of Rock’, ‘Dirty Girl’ and ‘Angry Child’ are pure candies for the Melodic Rock / Hair Metal lovers, a sound that bands like Skid Row were pushing forward in the late Eighties. Unfortunately this has been the last effort from this fine band, as they split up in 1992.

After a successful start to their career with the 1988 EP “Grounded for Life”, the band got a publishing agent, and played the club circuit, both as opening-act and as headliner. Then MONA LISA recorded in 1990 the debut album, “The Art Of Seduction”, self-released the next year, 1991, only on cassette format.
The album featured songs that have a Melodic Rock feel with a Metal sheen, recalling the style that bands like White Lion, Van Halen and Danger Danger was carrying around, in a time when acts like Metallica and Skid Row were all-rage (not to mention the Grunge-tsunami that was starting to swell).

And finally happened, with MONA LISA disbanding 1992. After this, drummer L. A. Roberts and guitarist Don DeOliveira put together a new band called TATTOO TAXI, and they released another great cassette-EP ‘Pedal To The Metal’ during 1993, featured as bonus on this CD.
Really cool stuff deserving to be heard. A Limited to 500 copies collectible.
Highly Recommended

01 Nowhere Bound
02 Dirty Girl
03 Angry Child
04 Losing You
05 Name Of Rock
06 On The Town
07 Forever (In Your Eyes)
08 Falling Too Deep
09 Nowhere Bound (Live)
10 Angry Child (Live)
11 Falling Too Deep (Live)
12 Living In A Box
13 Forever (In Your Eyes)
14 Love Me Green
15 Shangri La
16 No No No
Licensed From – Mona Lisa – SMM2486
Track 1 to 8 from “The Art Of Seduction” Cassette – 1991
Track 9 and 10 are live recordings from May 1991 with Ricky Thomas on vocals
Track 11 is a live recording from July 1990 with Michael Leigh on vocals
Track 12 to 16 are bonus tracks from post MONA LISA outfit TATTOO MAXI “Pedal To The Metal” – 1993

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