|
By GREG MAKI
“We are Velvet Revolver and we still play muthafuckin’ rock n’ roll!”
Those are the first words out of Scott Weiland’s mouth when he addresses the audience at Velvet Revolver’s live shows, and if you don’t believe him, check out his band’s second album, Libertad.
While 2004’s Contraband effectively melded the sounds of Guns N’ Roses and Stone Temple Pilots, the sophomore effort finds Weiland, guitarists Slash and Dave Kushner, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Matt Sorum more comfortable with each other (the chemistry between Slash and Kushner is noticeably stronger) and beginning to establish an identity separate from their pasts. True to Weiland’s word, it’s still very rock n’ roll and very much sounds like Velvet Revolver, but its 13 songs offer more variety than the debut.
The album gets off to a rollicking start with “Let It Roll,” a perfect up-tempo opener that has been occupying the same slot in the band’s recent live sets. “She Mine” immediately changes the pace, introducing an almost danceable groove. Track three, “Get Out the Door,” is classic Hollywood sleaze, telling the story of an encounter with a transvestite prostitute and featuring a great talk box solo courtesy of Slash. “She Builds Quick Machines,” with its catchy chorus, was an obvious choice for the first single. “The Last Fight,” a poignant song about a soldier about to head overseas, relaxes the atmosphere musically and shows just how talented a singer Weiland truly is.
These first five songs form as good a start to an album as anything I have heard in the last several years. If the balance of it maintained this level of excellence, Libertad would be an easy album of the year pick and just a small step down from Appetite for Destruction. It doesn’t quite do that but still makes for a solid whole. Highlights include “Just Sixteen,” on which Weiland vamps it up while singing about a fantasy almost every teenage boy has probably had at some point, and the hard-rocking “For a Brother.” There is also a cover of Electric Light Orchestra’s “Can’t Get It Out of My Head,” though I would have preferred their version of Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” instead. (You’ll have to track down the Melody and the Tyranny EP for that one.)
Though “The Last Fight” has hit single written all over it, I don’t envision anything here becoming the monster success that “Fall to Pieces” was. The great thing about that is that they easily could have written several ballads along those lines to chase the airplay. Instead, they chose to stretch their creative legs a bit and in the process, further establish themselves as maybe the best current band in their genre.
|
