Bolan – Gargoyle Of The Garden State
Having been responsible for providing Skid Row’s bottom end — and, not least, for being their main songwriter for the past forty years — Rachel Bolan has finally got around to releasing his debut solo album, and a right cracker it is too.
Bolan has kept himself busy by playing most of the instruments himself, but he has nonetheless been joined by an impressive array of guests, as we shall see later. Production duties have been taken care of by Nick Raskulinecz, who, as well as having previously produced Skid Row, has also worked with Foo Fighters, Alice In Chains and Rush, among others. So he more than knows his way around a recording studio.
The album initially appears to be somewhat front-loaded, with the first three tracks being the singles Anything But You, At War With Myself and Memory. I thought that this sequencing might be a bad idea because the singles are probably the best tracks on the album, right? Wrong. Gargoyle Of The Garden State is one of those rare albums where just about any track that you care to choose could realistically be released as a single.
Anything But You kicks things off in fine style. It’s a cracking rocker which more than adequately sets out the album’s stall. At War With Myself features Danko Jones on shared lead vocals and guitar. It is about hearing voices in your head and possibly being possessed. Well, we’ve all been there, haven’t we?
Memory, meanwhile, is about a relationship that’s gone sour and has some nice melodic bass touches from Bolan. Damon Johnson is on lead guitar for this track. Johnson is currently a solo artist, but has an impressive track record which takes in stints with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Alice Cooper, latter-day Thin Lizzy and Black Star Riders. Singer-songwriter Matt Farley is on backing vocals, and Skid Row’s Rob Hammersmith is, unsurprisingly, on drums.
The verses of See You On The Other Side start with an almost ABBA-sounding bass line, and there’s an awesome guitar solo from Dave “The Snake” Sabo from, you guessed it, Skid Row. Bridges is the slowest song so far, although it’s not exactly gentle. It has a nicely picked guitar intro, and we can safely say that it’s a love song. It’s probably the only one on the album.
Jet Black Universe has more than a hint of classic Alice Cooper about it, which can only be a good thing. Not only that, it features an absolutely jaw-dropping guitar solo from Nuno Bettencourt, which is a very good thing indeed.
Big Stick, meanwhile, has Corey Taylor from Slipknot on vocals. This is probably my favourite song on the album. With lines such as “run the fascists out of town”, this is clearly about the goons in government in the US at the moment. Bolan is the latest of a growing number of US artists railing against the current administration. More power to their collective elbows.
Pretty Hell has some barely audible keyboards in the background, which only serve to emphasise that this is primarily a guitar album. Indeed, Pretty Hell has a face-melting guitar solo too.
I must confess, my spirits fell somewhat when I saw that Bolan had covered an Oasis track. Not only that, it’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Star, one of my favourites. Thankfully, he doesn’t ape the original. It’s heavier and faster than the Oasis version. There’s more of a swing to it too, more “roll”. It’s a very definite “Noo Joisey” version. I’d be interested to know what Noel thinks of it.
Devil In The White almost epitomises the album. It’s short and sharp, and to the point. There’s not a minute or a note wasted. Eleven songs in 36 minutes: that’s how classic albums used to be.
This is a stonking rock ’n’ roll album that brings to mind The New York Dolls and Hanoi Rocks. Broadly speaking, it’s beyond faultless. When’s the next one coming out? Actually, more importantly than that — when’s the UK tour?
Bolan – Gargoyle Of The Garden State IS OUT NOW
Mark Kelly
