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Sunday, January 13, 2008
It's not supposed to be this way, I'm not supposed to like Kid Rock. He's a jerk, in the news for fights at awards shows and pancake houses. His trailer mansion is in the same park as Britney's, he married that perennial tramp Pam Anderson. I'm not supposed to like him. I recall the first time I watched the movie Snatch, Guy Ritchie's movie about Irish gypsies. The only thing anyone told me about it was it was Guy Ritchie, and it was good. I was determined not to like any movie by the guy who married Madonna. Nuh-huh wasn't going to happen. So what happened? I loved it, it's now one of my favourite movies. And so it is with Kid Rock: not going to like him, no way, no how, nuh-huh girlfriend. 
I was even told by reliable sources that I wouldn't like Kid Rock. So how come I like Rock and Roll Jesus so much? How come it is one the best albums I've heard in a long time?
Rock and Roll Jesus starts off with 4 of the best songs in a row that I've heard on a CD in years. Like last years surprise gem, Bon Jovi's Lost Highway, the cross between rock and roll and country works very well. Title track Rock and Roll Jesus is a straight up rocker, with an intro drum pull that is a lift of Bob Seger's Ramblin' Gamblin' Man. I've listened to this album enough to know it's not accidental, and it's not a steal, more homage being paid. We then move into Amen, a pretty little piece that again, lifts Bob Seger in the opening bars, this time the acoustic guitar track from Against the Wind.
From there we get into All Summer Long, a direct tribute, both lyrically and musically to Sweet Home Alabama. While using the basic song structure of SHA, All Summer Long, uses a piano up front, making it exactly Werewolves of London. The congruity between that and Sweet home Alabama is dynamic, and makes a really good third song. Lynyrd Skynyrd pianist Billy Powell even shows up to reprise his Sweet Home Alabama piano solo. Lyrically, Kid again pays a little homage de Seger, referencing a "Northern Michigan Summertime."
The fourth song of the album Roll On is a mid tempo feel good song about growing older, even while having the privilege of not having to act it. It has a great sing a long melody and hooks you in, much like Shawn Mullin's Shimmer or James Blunt's Billy:
Money and success
I don't complain about the stress
I wanted this and now it's here
So I don't bitch
And I swear that time's a trick
It disappears in oh so quick
Man I was just sixteen
And now I'm starin' at thirty-six
But I'm still havin' a good time
Roll on Roll on Roller Coaster
We're one day older and one step closer
Roll on there's mountains to climb
Roll on we're on borrowed time
Roll on Roller coaster
Roll on tonight
Special Mention must be given to Blue Jeans and a Rosary, a beautiful piece written from, presumably, Kid Rocks past:
All my life I've been searchin'
All my life I've been uncertain
I been abandoned and left alone
At fifteen I had to leave home
The black sheep, the bad seed
At a roadside bar in Tennessee
I met an angel to rescue me
She rescued me
She wore blue jeans and a rosary
Believed in God and believed in me
All her friends think she's a little crazy
She wears a smile, heart on her sleeve
Don't give a damn what the world thinks of me
She tells me it's all good
She's happy with a bad seed
Happy to be misunderstood
Two packs and a pint a day
To hide the shame
And wash away the pain
Aww the pain
Every road was a dead-end street
Runnin' from the law
And runnin' on empty
You couldn't shake the marks that were left on me
At a roadside bar in Tennessee
I met an angel to rescue me
She rescued me
She wore blue jeans and a rosary
Believed in God and believed in me
All her friends think she's a little crazy
She wears a smile, heart on her sleeve
Don't give a damn what the world thinks of me
She tells me it's all good
She's happy with a bad seed
Happy to be misunderstood
Nicely written, nicely performed and worth the price of the CD.
Also worth mentioning is Kid Rocks piece for ex-wife Pam Anderson, Half Your Age. I love when rock and roll gets nasty (Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road or Rod Stewart's You Got a Nerve come to mind), and this is some of the nastiest, especially considering it's no secret who it was written about:
I found someone new who treats me better
She don't bitch about things we ain't got
When I sing this tune it don't upset her
She's half your age and twice as hot
Oh she wakes up every morning and she folds my clothes
Doesn't care about the strippers dancing at my shows
She knows that I love her so I just wanted you to know
I found someone new who treats me better
She don't bitch about things we ain't got
When I sing this tune it don't upset her
She's half your age and twice as hot
Oh she don't start trouble cuz she dont need drama
She likes it in the mornin' and she loves my momma
I'm her big poppa an she's my little rock n roll...
Nasty, funny, and great rock and roll.
This CD is full of interesting, introspective songs that pay homage to those who came before. While it has a couple of pieces I don't like, and don't like them a lot, they are two or three songs out of twelve. They keep this CD from being a great one, but none the less, boy it's pretty good. And that's more than I ever expected from Kid Rock.
