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JOE PERRY ‘Joe Perry’ Columbia Records (2005)
This solo album comes from the guitarist of one of the world's biggest
and hardest working bands, the man who has been an influence to many
a guitarist and band worldwide and does not fail to live up to its
expectations. There is no list of celebrity friends appearing on this
album and all the vocals, production and instruments, with exception
of drums which are played by co-producer Paul Caruso, are handled by
Joe himself.
The songs are ones that Joe has written over the last ten years or so
and were recorded in his home studio Bone yard . It was only when
Aerosmith decided to take a year off that he decided to release them
as an album.
"Shakin' my Cage" is a frantic and energetic track and makes for a
great opening number. "Pray for Me" is a slower, Eastern tinged,
almost hypnotic track that is easy to imagine Steven Tyler singing.
The outstanding tracks for me are "Can't Compare", a simple love song
that has everything a great song should have - an awesome chorus and
great guitars and "Ten Years", a very personal love song with some
beautiful guitar work, written for his wife Billie on their tenth
wedding anniversary.
There are two cover songs here, The Doors "Crystal Ship" really works
well and really suits his vocals, the same can be said of Woody
Guthrie's "Vigilante Man" a slower bluesy track. There are also a
couple of instrumental tracks, "Mercy" and "Twilight" , which
showcase the level of musicianship on this album.
"Lonely" is another solid rock song with a great solo, "Talk Talkin'"
has an almost jamming feel to it and again is a simple song with a
very bluesy feel.
Unsurprisingly most of the songs have a feel of Aerosmith about them
but that is no bad thing. There is great guitar work throughout the
album and the songs really work well with Joes vocal range.
Hopefully there will be a tour to accompany this album as these songs
should work very well live.
*****
Review by Nikk Gunns
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