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From Toxic Twin to Soul Mate
Review
of Joe
Perry
by Dave Wilkie
With
the self-titled Joe Perry due in stores
May 5, the legendary rock veteran steps from stage
left and
grabs the
spot in
the middle for his first solo project in quite a few
years.
So
I heard online that you could listen to the album
for free at VH1.com and thought I’d
check it out. I didn’t expect much from this project,
having been mildly disappointed with most everything
Perry did after “Combination,” and pretty
disappointed in the industrialization of the Aerosmith
brand. From Dodge to Sony, or from The Gap to the SuperBowl,
Disneyworld and NASA, the dudes got dangerously close
to overexposure there for a time.
“Shakin’ My
Cage” opens
like an Aerosmith of Old song, but quickly becomes more
primitive and punky in
its repeated chorus. Some extremely searing solos pepper
this thing, reminding you right off the bat why Perry
is Perry. Never a frenetic fretwork technician, Perry
has always had soul, even when supplying random fills
on syrupy ballads. He's the same here. It's not how fast
and furious he plays, and he does, but it's more the
way he plays. Or as Keith Richards once said, "It's
not what you play, it's what you DON'T play."
“Hold
On Me” is again Aerosmithian, with
all the explosive guitar you’d expect from the
guy who writes most of the best music for the band.
And you think you know where this album is leading
when suddenly “Pray For Me” comes across
as a haunting dirge with a very sweet acoustic solo
toward the end. Here we might be finding out why Joe’s
been wearing crosses in his later years and talking
about “how
many sunsets you got left.” The guy’s obviously
been doing some thinking.
“Can’t Compare” could’ve come from
Draw the Line, Aero’s last great studio
album (Pump excluded). Perry lets loose
here in that same late 70s style – though the
hooking chorus is very modern. Perry is no Tyler
in the vocal department, but he holds his own here
better than he ever has.
Music aside, the reason this is automatically a monumental
album is that Perry steps up to do what he hasn’t
done in a while – write words and sing. The
titles of the tracks alone reveal a far more searching
artist than we typically find in the lyrics of the
good-times-party-sex rock of Boston’s baddest.
Perry devotes much of the lyrical content to his
woman in an almost “sacred feminine” vein.
His “muse” supplies his desire for the
spiritual and the whole project seems like a gift
for his wife. He relies on her to keep him on the
straight and narrow, and most aero-biographers will
tell you that this lady made him a better man. On “Talk
Talkin’” he sings about the “woman
[who] was born for me” and it’s nice
when an older married couple (and let’s face
it – Joe is eligible for the AARP) are still
in love. On Joe Perry, he
lays out his love and devotion to his soul mate,
and yet
in
true Perry
fashion, he
rocks the hell out of it, showing he is still intimately
acquainted with the crooked roads of the devil’s
music.
The
vocals were muffled, having streamed this online
through pretty lame speakers. (And no, it’s
not theft if Columbia and Sony are allowing you to
hear
it. It’s not downloadable quality anyway.) Interested
fans will need the liner notes for lyrics, which from
what I can tell are a little more introspective than
Mr. Tyler’s latter works.
The
VH1 media player says it’s from Roman Records – Columbia
Records, and yet the Roman
Records website hasn’t
been updated since the Porch Ghouls toured with Aerosmith
and Kiss in ‘03. Porch Ghouls have since disbanded
and reformed under the name Eldorado
and the Ruckus
and have a new album on Roman. One would hope that
Joe’s “fledgling” Roman Records would “fledge” a
little more. But you can tell from this album why he
signed the Ghouls in the first place. It’s that
same straight ahead blues-punk-rock, though El Dorado
Del Rey has a
thing or
two to
learn from A J Perry.
The
Doors’ “Crystal Ship” gets covered
and Perry sounds better singing low. It’s a very
moody song with another sweet solo that is downright
haunting. In fact, everything about this album is haunting.
The words, the music, even the Elvis cover shot devised
by Ross Halfin,
grumpy photographer to the stars.
A
standout is “Push Come to Shove,” a
damn good jam, although this is the sort of groove
that needs the shrieks, screams and groans of a Tyler.
Perry keeps it laid back in a Zeppelinesque style.
And if the “Who’s better? Page or Perry?” question
is still being kicked around out there, Perry settles
it here. And I don’t think James would mind handing
the crown to its rightful heir. “Twilight” is
a nice blues club instrumental, smoky and sinister.
I could hear Hendrix saying, “I like this kid…what’s
his name?” Page whispers to him, “That’s
Elvis.”
“Ten
Years” is a big downshift, and you
start to wonder if Don Henley is going to start singing
here sometime soon. An anniversary song to his wife,
it is bare in its honesty. Joe is like some blue-collar
biker dude who can’t wait to get home to be with
his chick. “The ocean of our love can be a stormy
sea – but in the end it’s just you and
me,” Here’s where he might’ve used
the word-smithing of the other Twin, but Joe
is telling his girl (and all those crazy female fans
of his who’d
sell their souls to touch his boot) that he’s
taken – and
glad to be.
There’s
something very 1980s happening on “Dying
To Be Free,” and I’m not sure what it is,
but it’s not bad. The vocals on this lame little
player are too hard to decipher, but it’s got
that whole “Combination” “Conflict
of Interest” vibe. Maybe a breakup song, but
who knows. I’m sure there is a Rock Lyrics Analysis
elective at some community college somewhere that will
include the optional Perry Module.
“Mercy” closes the album like a live show – a
catchy old Aerosmithy riff covered in the shotgun spray
of jaw dropping Perry solos.
I didn't expect to come away a fan again, but this
thing beats the crap out of Perry’s first
solo efforts, which had a rotating few unknown frontmen.
Matured, seasoned and looking like Elvis of old,
Perry finds
the combination,
the
key
to the
vault, and takes his place as a very able singer,
songwriter and frontman.
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