Tougher Than Leather [Deluxe Edition] [Digipak] [Remaster]

Performer: Run-D.M.C.
Artist: Davy D.
Producer: Run-DMC; Rick Rubin; Davy D.; Rick Rubin; Darren Salmieri (Reissue); Noah Uman (Reissue)
Distributor: BMG (distributor)

Notes: Run-DMC: Joseph "Run" Simmons, Darryl "DMC" McDaniels (rap vocals); Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizell (scratches). Additional personnel: Jon Sierra (guitar, piano); Davy D. (guitar, bass); Andreas Straub (guitar); Vincent Hammond, The Uptown Horns (horns); Daniel Shulman (bass); Bobby "Afro" Walker (drums). Engineers: Roey Shamir, Steve Ett, Barbara Milne. Run-D.M.C.: Daryl Simmons, Jason Mizell, Joseph Simmons. Personnel: Jon Sierra (guitar, piano); Davy D., Andreas Straub (guitar); Vincent Hammond, Uptown Horns (horns); Bobby "Afro" Walker (drums). Additional personnel: Daniel Shulman (bass guitar); Jon Sierra (drums); Davy D., Andreas Straub, Bobby "Afro" Walker. Audio Mixers: Rick Rubin; Davy D. Liner Note Author: Chuck D. Recording information: Chung King House Of Metal Inc (11/30/1986-09/29/1987); Electric Lady Studios (11/30/1986-09/29/1987); Greene Street Recording (11/30/1986-09/29/1987); Ian London Studios (11/30/1986-09/29/1987); Unique Recording Studios Inc (11/30/1986-09/29/1987). Authors: Eminem; Ice-T; Kid Rock. Ensemble: Uptown Horns. Photographers: Josh Cheuse; Glen E. Friedman. After bringing their high-energy and innovative style and sound to the masses with RAISING HELL, RUN-DMC returned with a fabulous follow-up to that ground-breaking album. TOUGHER THAN LEATHER packs plenty of punch and also sports some classic tracks such as "Run's House" and "Beats to the Rhyme." In a move that had proved successful in the past, RUN-DMC chose a remake with "Mary, Mary." One of RUN-DMC's most popular songs to ever hit the streets, "Mary, Mary" provided the commercial pop sound that catapulted the boys from Queens to the top of the charts once again. Other exceptional tracks include "Radio Station," which lashes out at radio programmers, "I'm Not Goin' Out Like That," and the intriguing "Papa Crazy." TOUGHER THAN LEATHER is easily as good as any other RUN-DMC album. At the end of 1986, Raising Hell was rap's best-selling album up to that point, though it would soon be outsold by the Beastie Boys' Licensed to Ill. Profile Records hoped that Run-D.M.C.'s fourth album, Tougher Than Leather, would exceed the Beastie Boys' quintuple-platinum status, but unfortunately, the group's popularity had decreased by 1988. One of Run-D.M.C.'s strong points -- its love of rock & roll -- was also its undoing in hip-hop circles. Any type of crossover success tends to be viewed suspiciously in the hood, and hardcore hip-hoppers weren't overly receptive to "Miss Elaine," "Papa Crazy," "Mary, Mary," and other rap-rock delights found on the album. Thanks largely to rock fans, this album did go platinum for sales exceeding one million copies -- which ironically, Profile considered a disappointment. But the fact is that while Tougher Than Leather isn't quite as strong as Run-D.M.C.'s first three albums, it was one of 1988's best rap releases. [Arista/Legacy reissued Tougher Than Leather as a deluxe edition in 2005, containing four bonus tracks -- an instrumental of "Beats to the Rhyme," a demo called "Crack," their holiday standard "Christmas in Hollis," and a radio ad promoting their April 1987 interview in Penthouse magazine -- and liner notes by Chuck D.] ~ Alex Henderson

Q (12/99, p.162) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...attempt to rap faster [with the addition of] producer Davy-D's cut-up funk backdrop, but they still sound best on the big dumb pop of 'Mary, Mary'..." Uncut (11/03, p.130) - 5 stars out of 5 - "...[It] now sounds like their masterpiece..."

Until Run-DMC came along in the early 1980s, most hip-hop music wasn't much more than nursery rhymes over disco loops. They popularized the idea of rap as a new kind of rock & roll--the voice of the streets set to the raw sounds of a turntablist one-man-band. The group even managed to pioneer the collision of rock and rap with a groundbreaking take on Aerosmith's "Walk This Way." Run-DMC is now viewed as the avatar of old-school hip-hop, almost quaint by 21st-century gangsta standards, but undeniably influential. Sadly, Run-DMC disbanded in 2002, after the tragic murder of Jam Master Jay, the group's groundbreaking DJ.

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