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Review |
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Social Distortion are one of the most influences
punk bands ever with bands such as Green Day, The
Gaslight Anthem, Rancid and even Bruce Springsteen
looking up to them. The last Social Distortion album
to be released was 2004’s ‘Sex Love
Rock ‘N’ Roll’ which shows that
it has been a good 7 year wait for Social Distortion
to release their seventh studio album ‘Hard
Times And Nursery Rhymes’.
I was extremely excited when ‘Hard Times
And Nursery Rhymes’ came through my door
as I have been a big Social Distortion fan for
many years now and the first thing that impressed
me when I received the album was how the whole
album had a old skool feel about it from the mono
tone artwork to the new big and bright funky band
logo and not to mention the fold out lyric sheet
inside which doubles up as a poster.
Musically ‘Hard Times And Nursery Rhymes’
opens with ‘Road Zombie’ which happens
to be an instrumental track which runs for 2minutes
and 21seconds and it really sets the pace of the
album which its classy sounding guitar riffs,
big basslines and fast paced constant drum beats
which mixed together kicks off with an almighty
massive sound.
As soon as the instrumental introduction is over
the album blast straight into ‘California
(Hustle and Flow)’ a song which opens with
riffs that sounds like a mix of Status Quo meets
the Black Crows, the instrumental work throughout
the song is quite simple sounding but at the same
time it is quite effective and gives frontman
Mike Ness space to shine with his lead vocals
and the female backing vocals help add to the
overall positive feel of the song.
‘Diamond In The Rough’ is one of
the best songs on the album, it is a mid-tempo
song that has a hint of Rancid in the mix and
as soon as you hear the chorus of “I've
been chasing like a diamond in the rough, You're
dirty and you're damaged. All you need's a little
love, But inside you sparkle, like the stars above,
You'll be there in the morning, when the going
gets tough” you will find yourself singing
and swaying along and as soon as the song is over
you will find yourself hitting the song up again
and again.
‘Machine Gun Blues’ is the lead single
to be taken from the album and the song is exactly
as the title suggests in the way that it is an
Blues influenced song that thrives on fast machine
gun style riffage which proves after all these
years that Social Distortion are not slowing down
for anyone, the song is pure genius and Mike Ness
and Jonny Wickersham deserve maximum kudos for
the fantastic guitar work throughout.
‘Bakersfield’ is a really slow paced
song and also happens to be the longest running
track on the album clocking in for 6minutes and
25seconds, the song is ok but it does fail to
fully take off as it is all a bit middle of the
road and I don’t think the length of the
track helps at all.
‘Alone And Forsaken’ is another one
of the tracks on the album that really stands
out due to the amazing guitar work and fast flowing
lead vocals from Mike Ness. ‘Can’t
Take It With You’ is a song which has a
real old skool rock N roll vibe running through
it with its gospel style backing vocals and frantic
guitar riffs and not to mention spine tingling
keyboard piece.
The album closes with ‘Still Alive’
and it seems that Social Distortion have left
the best until last as the song is my favourite
on the album and one that is going to have heavy
rotation on my Ipod in the forthcoming weeks.
It may well take Social Distortion an age to
release albums but when they do you instantly
know that you are in for a treat as so far they
are yet to disappoint, ‘Hard Times And Nursery
Rhymes’ is yet another classic album added
to the collection and I personally wouldn’t
mind if it took Social Distortion another 10 years
to release their next album as long as they keep
up the positive work and keep coming back bigger
and better than before.
5/5
Review by Trigger |
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| Band
Members |
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Mike Ness (Vocals, Lead Guitar)
Brent Harding (Bass)
Jonny Wickersham (Backing Vocals,
Rhythm Guitar)
Charlie Quintana (Drums) |
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| Track
Listing |
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1. Road Zombie
2. California (Hustle and Flow)
3. Gimme The Sweet And Lowdown
4. Diamond In The Rough
5. Machine Gun Blues
6. Bakersfield
7. Far Side Of Nowhere
8. Alone And Forsaken
10. Writing On The Wall
11. Can't Take it with You
12. Still Alive |
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| Band
Related Links |
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| Review
Score Code |
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- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
-
What Was That? |
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