Former Stray Cat Brian Setzer is back with a collection of sheer variety to boot, this LP having been recorded at his leisure in sunny Palm Springs.
If you love blues-rock that's bolted by a ballsy riff, you'll literally not need to look any further than the opening two tracks of 'Nitro,' what with 'Sixty Years' and the quirkily frank 'Don't Trust A Woman.' Both are fantastic cuts, 'Sixty Years' having been written after the death of Joey Ramone� and in light of Joe Strummer's tragically premature departure from rock 'n' roll, and that other great experience more commonly known as 'life.' Setzer may be being pessimistic, but he does have a point� and that's that we're all damn lucky if we make it to the age of 60, hence 'Carpe Diem' muthalovers! 'Don't Trust A Woman,' on a different hand, could reflect the fact that Brian has separated from his wife.
From then on into this album, he boldly flounces around with various musical styles. 'When The Bells Don't Chime' is more bluesgrass than blues-rock and harks towards Alison Krauss and her Union Station's kind of blissfully subtle yet wholesomely bittersweet music, while 'Smokin' and Burnin' sounds to be more Chuck Berry-inspired with its slightly more uptempo edge.
Then there's the acoustic-based Country of 'Wild Wind' (which is one of the LP's definitive highlights) and the laid-back Swing of 'To Be Loved.'
So while his more rocking, riff-based moments of glory are his finest (especially courtesy of the Elvis-stemmed swagger in his presentation), if at first you don't like his initially angular and gruff 'blues' style, you might more easily warm to the mellower songs and varying musical styles further into the album.
So hang in there and remember, remember - patience is a virtue. 3/5 (Steve Rudd)
Release Date: October 20th 2003
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