The new Social Distortion album needs its own thread.

[IWasBored]

even though i'm one of the only people here who actually cares...it's that good. it's what they should have put out after somewhere between heaven and hell, except that it doesn't exactly sound like that album. sure, it's got a lot of the same hallmarks of a social d record, but it doesn't sound like everything else they've ever released--kind of a feat for a band usually described as all their songs sounding the same (which i don't agree with, but i can see how some people would think so). it's the kind of thing that i'd generally be inclined to say i wish it had been titled as a mike ness solo album, or filed under something other than social d because it's a straight-up rock n roll album more than anything else. i guess if you took cheating at solitaire and gave it more swagger...or something. the instrumental kick-off is pretty badass. i like it.

seems like anywhere i look on the internet people say it sounds a lot like the rolling stones. that's always been there to a degree, even without taking the "under my thumb" cover into account. i think it's mainly in the female backing choir on a bunch of songs, or the "all down the line" part in "california hustle and flow." i'll buy that. that song kind of does scream exile on main street. there's a bunch of nods to other songs in "gimme sweet and low down" (the busted/mistrusted/maladjusted one is particularly causing me a headache in being unable to place it, and when i do finally i know i'm going to be more annoyed). i'm assuming they're intentional, since they're in pretty much identical spots in each verse. they're not obnoxious like the gaslight anthem tends to get. then you've got "machine gun blues" which is as social d as it gets.

it does taper off a bit in its awesomeness after "bakersfield," but it ends on a pretty solid note. sure, lyrically it's nothing new and mike ness has probably written a couple dozen songs that read exactly like that one. and while nothing is really standing out right now for me as a fantastic top # anything song right now, it's just overall a decent album.

i'm going to say something i've never said before: i actually want to hear "diamond in the rough" as a an overplayed single on even the shitty pop radio stations (which is kind of hypothetical since i hardly ever listen to the radio, and when i do i never listen to those stations. so if this were actually to happen, i'd never know it. but i still, for some reason, want to see this happen). it's not it's an amazing song. it's a decent song. but it's so friggin' radio-friendly, yet not in a bad way. they've been around for so goddamn long, i'd be hard-pressed to ever call anything a sell-out attempt anyway.

 

[mtnfox]

Nice review/analysis. I agree completely, in fact your review sounds a whole like one I posted myself on Facebook. The instrumental opening was definitely a gamble but it works, and although I'd say much of the album is a departure from the S.D. of old, there's enough to satisfy all S.D. fans. It's been on my heavy rotation list from the day it came out.

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

Aren't you glad I told you it was out?

 

[BluRmGrl]

I've been trying to get my hands on this disc since its release - what? - two weeks ago. There's been some issue every time I go to buy it. But I have decreed that THIS is the weekend that it will be mine. Oh yes - it.will.be.mine!!

Can't wait to blast it through my speakers & rock out!!

 

[IWasBored]

did this thread sink like a rock, or did this thread sink like a rock?



no surprises there.

ya know, UL, if i didn't have such an aversion to checking my email, i would have found the mailing list mail about it before the damn thing came out. then you wouldn't have had to tell me. but yes. yes, i am glad.

it's been about 80% of music living in my car, and a one-way to or from work drive lasts about as long as it does to go from "gimme the sweet and low down" to "far side of nowhere," provided that i skip to the latter when "bakersfield" gets to the king sized california bed part. don't get me wrong, i really dig the way the album kicks off with "road zombie," and "califnornia hustle and flow" is easily one of the best songs on the album. there's just something about tracks 3-7 that equals a seperate kind of cohesion the rest of the album doesn't quite match. looking through the band's discography, honestly sex, love rock n roll is the only album i really ever listen to from start to finish without skipping, repeating, or restarting at any point. this is kinda rambly, and probably doesn't make too much sense, but i can't really think i've ever considered social d a strong album band. mike ness is, however, responsible for quite a few really, really fucking good rock n roll songs.

and i still want to turn on random pop radio station 6 months from now and hear "diamond in the rough" for whatever reason.