CORPORATE LINE: It’s not like Billy Idol has been locked in the basement for twelve years composing songs for DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND, his first album of original material since CYBERPUNK in 1993. No, the first generation punk (Chelsea, Generation X) and undisputed alpha male Life Force of MTV’s Golden Age needed to crawl out of the trench that trips up so many after an ascent to fame, needed to sandblast the excrescence of stardom off his persona, needed to chisel away all that wasn’t pure gleaming rock & roll, before loosing his artistic self on the 21st Century.
THE GREAT:
Nothing.
THE AVERAGE:
“Super Overdrive” – Idol limps along trying to prove he can scream and still try to write a hook—which oddly sounds bit like Velvet Revolver.
“World Comin’ Down” – The guitars blare and Idol tries his hand at some tight-fisted rock ‘n’ roll. It’s crazy out there and Idol doesn’t seem to know if he is afraid or wants to contribute the chaos.
“Sherri” – A simple love song that is quite lovely and “Cherie” is a different name same game.
“Scream” – Underage sex? Still the same old Idol.
THE BAD:
“Yellin’ At The Xmas Tree” – Idol doing Xmas while his voice cracks isn’t what I’d call good.
“Lady Do Or Die” – Idol doing his best Johnny Cash—it doesn’t work.
FRANKLY: Billy Idol is back. Do you care? Chances are you don’t. Idol hasn’t released anything new in, well who knows how long… but Devil’s Playground proves that we could have waited longer.
+ Rae Gun
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.