Baltimore Sun correspondent Rashod D. Ollison has filed the following report on MÖTLEY CRÜE:

Mötley Crüe Offers Pure Escapism

The fact that all four are still alive is nothing short of miraculous.

The original members of Mötley Crüe - lead singer Vince Neil, bassist Nikki Sixx, lead guitarist Mick Mars and drummer Tommy Lee - spent much of the Reagan era wasted on drugs and alcohol and partying with groupies around the world. The wild times were funneled into the music, producing some of the most enduring hits in heavy metal: "Live Wire," "Dr. Feelgood," "Girls, Girls, Girls" and one of the genre's best ballads, "Home Sweet Home."

The infamous miscreants of rock reunited for Saints of Los Angeles, the band's most focused album since 1989's Dr. Feelgood. The CD, released in June by the band's Mötley Records, has received generally favorable reviews. To support it, Motley Crue is on a national tour that stops at 1st Mariner Arena on Saturday night.

At this point in the band's career, after more than 25 years of storied decadence on and off the stage, the hard-living image has long eclipsed the music. Though strong in spots, the new album is nothing more than a musical tribute to the group's hedonistic past. And that was best chronicled in The Dirt, the band's 2001 best-selling tell-all.

In a time fraught with demoralizing news about a wobbly economy and record job losses, the bristly yet accessible rock of Motley Crue is pure escapism. The spectacle of the expletive-littered shows (the glam get-ups, theatrical makeup and spiky hair) is pure nostalgia for fans saddled with 9-to-5 blues and grown-up responsibilities.

"It's less about Motley's music, although much of their classic catalog still holds up very well, and more about how Mötley Crüe just epitomizes the ultimate decadent rock band," says Lyndsey Parker, managing editor at Yahoo Music. "No current group even comes close to being such an utter embodiment of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll."

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