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**Hanoi Rocks - Two Steps From The Move**
★★★★☆

By 1984, Hanoi Rocks were tantalizingly close to breaking through the glass ceiling that had kept so many brilliant rock bands trapped in cult status. The Finnish quintet had already conquered hearts across Europe and Japan with their intoxicating blend of New York Dolls glam, Faces swagger, and punk attitude, but America – that holy grail of rock success – remained frustratingly elusive. *Two Steps From The Move* was meant to be their battering ram through the fortress walls of mainstream acceptance, recorded with producer Bob Ezrin, the man who'd worked magic with Alice Cooper and Kiss. Instead, it became a bittersweet monument to what might have been.

The album arrived at a crossroads moment for the band. Fresh from the relative disappointment of *Back To Mystery City*, which had failed to capitalize on the promise of their earlier work, Hanoi Rocks were under pressure to deliver something that could compete with the emerging hair metal scene they'd inadvertently helped spawn. The irony wasn't lost on anyone paying attention – here were the originators watching their bastard children like Mötley Crüe climb the charts while they remained critically acclaimed but commercially overlooked.

Ezrin's production gives *Two Steps From The Move* a glossier sheen than anything in the band's catalog, yet crucially doesn't sand away the rough edges that made them so compelling. The opening salvo of "Underwater World" immediately signals intent – Michael Monroe's harmonica wails over Andy McCoy's serpentine guitar lines while the rhythm section of Sami Yaffa and Gyp Casino locks into a groove that's simultaneously loose and tight. It's classic Hanoi Rocks, but with a clarity and punch that suggests they're ready for arena stages.

The title track stands as perhaps their finest moment, a perfect distillation of everything that made the band special. Monroe's vocals dance between vulnerability and defiance, while McCoy delivers one of his most memorable riffs – a thing of beauty that borrows from Chuck Berry and the Stooges in equal measure. There's a desperation in the lyrics that feels prophetic now: "I'm two steps from the move that could change my life forever." The song pulses with the energy of a band that knows this might be their last shot at the big time.

"Up Around The Bend," their inspired cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's swamp rocker, might seem like an odd choice, but Hanoi Rocks transform it into something entirely their own. Monroe's saxophone adds a Roxy Music sophistication while the band's natural swing makes Fogerty's original sound positively stiff by comparison. It's a masterclass in how to make a cover version that honors the source while stamping your own personality all over it.

The album's secret weapon is its balance between the band's natural chaos and Ezrin's studio craft. Songs like "Lightnin' Bar Blues" and "I Can't Get It" showcase their ability to channel influences ranging from Little Richard to the Heartbreakers without ever sounding derivative. McCoy's guitar work throughout is exemplary – melodic, dangerous, and always in service of the song rather than his own ego.

Tragically, *Two Steps From The Move* would prove to be the band's final studio album with their classic lineup. Just months after its release, drummer Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley was killed in a car crash involving Mötley Crüe's Vince Neil, effectively ending Hanoi Rocks as a creative force. The timing was cruel – early signs suggested the album might finally be gaining traction in America, and the band was poised for their biggest tour yet.

In hindsight, *Two Steps From The Move* reads like a blueprint for the rock music that would dominate the late '80s, yet it possesses something most of those bands lacked – genuine soul. While their aesthetic offspring focused on the surface elements of the glam rock template, Hanoi Rocks understood that the best rock music comes from somewhere deeper than hairspray and leather pants.

The album's legacy has only grown over the decades. Bands from Guns N' Roses to the Darkness have cited it as a crucial influence, and its songs remain staples of rock radio across Europe. *Two Steps From The Move* stands as both a career highlight and a tantalizing glimpse of what might have been – a reminder that sometimes the most influential albums are the ones that never quite got their due