Posts tagged social distortion

I’ll just say it right now, trying to objectively review this album is not an easy task.  For one, Social Distortion is one of my favorite live bands around.  Mike Ness, iconic frontman and founder, and the boys have been playing live shows since the early 80s, and they still bring all of the energy and passion that a live show demands with every stop.  In my opinion, Social Distortion is timeless punk rock for the California music lover.  Classics such as “Story Of My Life” and “Ball And Chain” will forever be associated with the Southern California punk rock and music scene.  So here I am, trying to review an album from one of my all time favorite bands, and I get something like Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes.  For starters, it’s important to keep in mind that for the first time on a Social Distortion record Mike Ness took over the production duties.  Maybe in the end, that wasn’t such a good idea, and here is why- Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes is an remarkable Mike Ness solo album but leaves the Social Distortion faithful scratching their heads and yearning for more.  Taking Social D’s full discography into account, Hard Times is by far the least punk, most southern, closest to blues, and slowest album of all.  That’s not a bad thing for a Mike Ness solo album, but it just doesn’t seem to fit under the Social Distortion moniker.  After 30 years of playing punk rock music, can Mike Ness change the sound of his legendary California band? Of course he can.  Mike can do whatever he wants with Social D!  I just wished he would have brought out the punk stuff for this album and for this band.  To put it simply, the single “Reach For The Sky” from the band’s previous album is about three times faster and harder hitting than anything on the new album.

Social Distortion's new album takes some getting used to, but the patience is worth it.

Alright, so now that I have that taken care of, let’s take a look at the actual songs on this album in a more objective light.  The album starts with a punk-rock prelude from the band- a very rare instrumental track for the band.  From there the album goes into the second single “California (Hustle And Flow)”, which is a pretty good identifier for the album as a whole.  It’s different, its blues, and its definitely a little hard to slow at first.  But if you can get over the initial surprise, there is a lot to like.  One suggestion, maybe next time guys you should save the back up singers for the live shows only.  A few songs in, we get to the best song on the album and the one I can’t stop playing- “Diamond In The Rough”.  Yes, the story isn’t anything we haven’t heard from Mike before, but the presentation is excellent.  To me, this is exactly the type of songs Mike wants to record now, and as long as it sounds this good I can’t argue too much with it.  “Machine Gun Blues” is the headlining single from the album, and it does its job as a steady moving KROQ hit.  I prefer the energy of “Reach For The Sky”, but “Machine Gun Blues” holds its own as Social D single.  From there we get into some great Hank Williams covers.  “Alone And Forsaken” and “Six More Miles” are the perfect blend of the legendary country rock star and the so cal punk boy.  Mike has always channeled the energy and sound of Hank Williams in concert, and its more than satisfying to hear these live show staples get the proper treatment on a recording.  So what can I say, the music is great (back up vocals could have been scrapped) and the song writing is classic Social D, but the music and sound is a little different.  I wouldn’t put this album on to showcase Social Distortion punk rock to anyone, but its the perfect companion if you are looking to take a few steps back and enjoy some great music.