POP STARS **** Great Balls of Fire...

POP STARS **** Great Balls of Fire *** Good Vibrations ** Maybe Baby * Running on Empty

WARRANT “Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich.” Columbia

*** With the overabundance of shallow party bands in Los Angeles, it’s refreshing to find a group of locals with a multidimensional personality. Warrant’s debut LP is a rock ‘n’ roll romp that’s both colorful and loaded with heart.

“Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich” hops from attitude to attitude. “32 Pennies” is a danceable rags-to-rags bop, while “So Damn Pretty” shows the quintet’s rougher edge. “Heaven” is a shamelessly romantic ballad.

Producer Beau Hill captures the in-your-face guitar licks and booming drums, but he also allows Warrant’s charming sincerity to shine through. Jani Lane’s vocals have both warmth and cockiness, while Erik Turner and Joey Allen’s guitars wind in and out of Lane’s every mood.

There is some filler here. “In the Sticks” is cute but forgettable and “Cold Sweat” has that cliched El Lay crunch. But these are small complaints. Warrant is definitely a good-time band, but there’s a lot of musical and lyrical depth underneath the fun.