I hated this album when it came out, and almost 15 years later, I know now that my gut feeling was right. A big part of it is the songwriting, which is Billy's weakest yet (as of 1990); but then again, he wasn't helped by the extremely session-like dullness of new guitarist Mark-Younger-Smith, who made you wish Steve Stevens hadn't departed.The 'hits' ("Prodigal Blues", "Cradle Of Love", and their cover of "L.A. Woman") are fine, but toothless. After the pure pop decadence of "Vital Idol", I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was. Skip this one (and Cyberpunk), and stick to his first three albums.