Ok... I understand that asking me to objectively review an album by Slash is a little bit like going to a Star Wars convention and asking people what they thought of The Empire Strikes Back, but I'm going to try to do as good a job as possible as someone who enjoys Rock & Roll and has listened to the album many many times:
OMGGG THIS IS THE BESTEST ALBUM EVAAAAAAAR GO BUY IT NOOOOOOOOWWW!!!!!!!! YOU HAVE NO CHANCE TO SURVIVE MAKE YOUR TIME!!!!
Ok now seriously... I think the best way to do this is to go track by track. Here we go:
1) Ghost (feat. Ian Astbury & Izzy Stradlin): This is a pretty straightforward rock & roll tune. Sounds a little like GNR (not surprisingly). I'm not very familiar with The Cult, but Iam Astbury does a very good job with the vocals. It's catchy and has an awesome guitar solo (you're going to hear this a lot, so I'm just going to shorten it HAGS).
2) Crucify the Dear (feat. Ozzy): This track has OZZY all over it. The feel of the song is a little bit more somber than Ozzy's Randy Rhoads era solo stuff, but could pass for an Ozzy song (if not for Slash's unmistakable gutiar playing style). The song starts off pretty mellow but the energy picks up as it progresses. Pretty sweet song.
3) Beautiful Dangerous (feat. Fergie): BEFORE anyone says Fergie can't sing, please listen to this track. This song proves that anyone can be good when Slash writes their music. It's really catchy and HAGS.
4) Back from Cali (feat. Myles Kennedy): This is the first of two songs that the Alter Bridge vocalist lends his talent to on the album. He's pretty good but the song itself is a little on the generic side. That's not to say it's bad... it's just not as amazing as the other songs on the album - any other artist would be proud to release a song this good. Straight up rock tune with a bluesy intro/bridge lick.
5) Promise (feat. Chris Cornell): Not my favorite on the album... it sounds like one of those Audioslave tracks off the back off that album whose name you don't remember. The instrumentals are a bit boring and Chris Cornell doesn't deliver the best performance... I know he's capable of more.
6) By the Sword (feat. Andrew Stockdale): This song has a kind of White Stripes feeling to it except the drummer can actually play more than one beat and there is bass. The song is pretty good... HOWEVER I think it would have sounded much better with Jack White singing on it. Slash apparently tried to get Jack White (who seemed to think he was too good to be on the album, and can go F himself) but settled for Andres Stockdale. Not a bad choice, as he sounds a little bit like a mix of Robert Plant and Jack White (both great vocalists). Rather than going for the over the top guitar solo Slash actually tones it down a bit and goes for the clean wah.
7) Gotten (feat. Adam Levine): This track is fairly mellow, but fresh. Adam Levine of Maroon 5 does the vocals (and is very appropriate for the song). Not much to say here other than it's a good song.
8) Doctor Alibi (feat. Lemmy Kilmister): You know a song is going to be great when it credits "Slash, feat. Lemmy Kilmister." There is no way that song could possibly be bad.... 3:07 is barely enough to contain the badassness and prevent it from oozing out the sides... The beat is solid, the riff is sweet, and the lyrics are about Lemmy telling everyone to fuck off and let him drink, party, and Rock & Roll. He's 64. Fucking badass. Also, HAGS. What more could you want?
9) Watch This (instrumental, feat. Dave Grohl Duff McKagan): This song borders on Metal, and is a 3:46 demonstration of why Slash is better than you at playing the guitar. The title is pretty clever. Awesome song. HAGS.
10) I Hold (feat. Kid Rock): I was expceting some rap-rock, but Slash, being Slash, went for the rock-country approach, which is the other thing that Kid Rock does. The song is a little bland but is still pretty good and gives the listener's ears a quick breather between the previous two songs and the next one, which are rather intense.
11) Nothing to Say (feat M. Shadows): This song can best be described as an Avenged Sevenfold song with more balls (but not as great drumming... RIP the Rev...). The riffs range from very to fucking awesome, and the chorus is very catchy. Shadows delivers a strong vocal performance and mostly avoids the annoying nasal sound that's prevalent on later A7X albums. Also, 2x HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGS. If you somehow forgot that Slash can shred, the solo is a 40 second face-melting reminder.
12) Starlight (feat. Myles Kennedy): The second Kennedy song, and my favorite of the two. The song is more upbeat, the vocals are more engaging, and HAGS.
13) Saint is a Sinner Too (feat. Rocco DeLuca): This song is pretty good and has a bit of an epic western thing to it. What sets it apart from the rest of the album is that it doesn't have the Slashness - meaning you can't listen to it and instantly recognize it's a Slash song. That doesn't make it bad, but it's kind of what we expect and like to hear from Slash.
14) We're All Gonna Die (feat. Iggy Pop): I'm not too good at math, but I imagine that Slash + Iggy Pop always = Awesome. The song is really groovy and goes the way of softer verses / energetic choruses without slowing down too much at any point. To give you an idea of how awesome this song is and how insane Iggy Pop is, the first few words of the chorus are "We're all gonna die! So let's get high!" Also, 2x HAGS. During the second guitar solo, Iggy Pop does an evil laugh and says "I wanna whip it out and pee on the ground!"
Recap:
This album is really really good. There are some average songs, but the really great songs are so great that they completely eclipse any part of the album that isn't aboslutely perfect. Here are my personal favorite songs:
Beautiful Dangerous, Doctor Alibi, Nothing to Say, We're All Gonna Die
Now go buy this album, or at least listen to it at: http://www.myspace.com/Slash
Mo out.
No comments:
Post a Comment