Reviewed by:
aaciseric, on may 07, 2008
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Sound: A solid set of listenable, rock n' roll tracks (with a just a touch of blues and country thrown in) awaits you when listening to this album. Izzy's style is simple and right infront of you with usually just a two guitar, one bass (played by Izzy's old Guns N' Roses pal Duff Mckagan), one drumkit (which I believe is played by Taz Bently) and Izzy's rough but relaxing voice behind the microphone. Rick Richards plays Izzy's slide/solo guitar alter ego on most of these tracks though at the time of recording there was tell of the guitar hero (and Izzy's old band mate and friend) Slash joining along on this album and I suspect he may have done (especially on the track "Lot To Learn). Compared to Izzy's back catalouge (which at time of this writing is a wopping 8 albums) this is amongst his finest works, although I must confess the production and sound quality (espeially on the lead guitar parts) does bring the general appeal down slightly. // 7
Lyrics and Singing: There's definately a lot of highs and lows in Izzy's lyrics. At times his lyrics are master pieces which truly render me speechless (more specifically "Sweet Caress") but other times he seems to fall short slightly, or else repeat words a lot and just generally doesn't do enough to bring his songs to the classic level of some of his Guns N' Roses pieces (although it is slightly unfair to compare the some of the parts to an epic band like GnR as there works were definately a collaberative effort). Izzy also hits some deep levels in this album. One example is "Coke'N" (an abreviated name for the drug 'cocaine') which is a fun countryish song in which Izzy says goodbye to his old ways and addictions. "Sweet Caress" and "Got Some News" are both moderately deep songs but there are some random upbeat songs on there aswell such as "Monkeys" and "Way To Go" (although Izzy does slightly over use the word 'Alright'). Overall I think Izzy has definately got serious lyric writing talent and his voice suits his music perfectly and creates some songs that are, well, 'Good Enough' for me. // 8
Impression: I was massively impressed with this piece of work, it's the kind of album you can put on and then just relax, the other groups raised from GN'R's untimely demise have made some excellent hard rock music (such as Velvet Revolver's "Contraband" and Slashs Snakepit's "Ain't Life Grand") which I'm a fan of but I definately prefer the simple and relaxing tunes on this album such as "Coke'n", "Sweet Caress" (which I must say is the first of Izzy's songs I ever heard and by the time it was over I had already converted to be a life long Izzy Stradlin fan and quickly sought to find anything and everything he had ever done) and "On Down The Road". I can't ever imagine myself losing this album but I would most likely get a new one if conveniance suited. // 8
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