Slash ft Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators “Living The Dream”
The man who could be described by his silhouette is back. The rock n roll outlaw, with signature top hat, mane of hair, cigarette in mouth, Gibson in hand, and his band of merry men are about to release their next album, Living The Dream.
The group consisting of Myles Kennedy on vocals, Brent Fitz on drums, Bassist Todd Kerns and Frank Sidoris on guitar are backing Slash once again, to continue on the success of last album World Of Fire.
Make no mistake, Slash isn’t here to reinvent the wheel; he’s here to make sure the wheel is on the fuel-injected rock n roll muscle car he’s driving with you all the way to The Rainbow instead.
Opening track The Call Of The Wild starts in a typical Slash way, a demon boogie riff to get the temperature raised. Myles vocals naturally are on point, then again, when are they not. The modern take on good time blues and boogie riffs continues throughout Serve You Right, a song you can imagine Slash slithering his way across the stage, and the ball breaker My Antidote. Brent Fitz drums starting this heavy rock number the right way, with a Slash solo that is so killer it should be R rated.
In Mind Your Manners, Myles melodic sensibilities come to the fore with an instantly catchy chorus backed by another unashamed Slash riff. Then the pace slows for Lost Inside The Girl and Read Between The Lines, well as slow as a rock n roll legend will allow it, and it’ s delightful with hints of gospel vocals littered throughout.
The One You Loved Is Gone is the cigarette lighter/mobile phone moment which perfectly encapsulated Myles Kennedy’s soul, who has always had the most emotional vocal sensibilities, which works perfectly with Slash’s moody guitar work.
Driving Rain is the first single and as Myles says, has an old school Aerosmith rhythm to it while Sugar Cane is the bastard son of Mr Brownstone, if he was on speed. It’s nasty, dirty and just wickedly wonderful all at the same time.
The album finishes with Boulevard Of Broken Hearts, which starts like the beginning of Survivor’s Eye Of The Tiger before breaking into ‘downing whisky shots at the bar’ rock music.
Slash, Myles and the guys have delivered what promises to be another arena packing classic. Their fantastic storytelling through the lyrics and music should have given you by now a great visual of the Sunset Strip LA; neon lights, wall to wall traffic, people dressed as movie characters, rubbish in the streets and chancers all around. Slash took the wheel and drove you to see those Living The Dream on the Boulevard Of Broken Hearts, the least you can do is listen to his story.
Album Review by Iain McCallum
