Self-Titled Album - Slash

Slash’s star-laden solo album Slash is a very mixed bag. Probably the only record this year to include appearances from Kid Rock, Maroon 5’s Adam Levine, Black Eyed Peas’ Fergie, Ozzy Osbourne and Iggy Pop, Slash finds the Velvet Revolver guitarist bouncing around between rock and pop. But while the record’s far-ranging sound helps to illuminate little-seen sides of Slash’s musical personality, the quality of the material is all over the map. Anybody hoping that this solo effort would be a hard-rock monster akin to Slash’s glory days in Guns N’ Roses will be disappointed, but on the whole this uneven effort works.

 

Slash consists of 14 tracks featuring different high-profile vocalists. (Only Alter Bridge’s Myles Kennedy shows up more than once, and one song, “Watch This,” is an instrumental starring Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl and Slash’s Velvet Revolver bandmate Duff McKagan.) Before the album’s release, Slash’s most intriguing aspect was the fact that we’d get to hear singers from across the musical map lend their voices to Slash’s sonic concoctions. In reality, though, the success rate isn’t as high as one would like. Interestingly, Chris Cornell is one of the spotlighted vocalists, and in a way Slash is much like Cornell’s 2009 collaboration with hip-hop producer Timbaland, Scream, in that it transplants a known rock commodity into the mainstream pop world. Granted, Slash still feels for the most part in the same genre as Slash’s output with GNR and Velvet Revolver, but it’s largely a rock album for people who normally shy away from the aggressiveness of an Appetite for Destruction.

 

Slash is best known for his work in the rock world, but he’s also done guest spots on albums for artists like Bob Dylan and Michael Jackson, suggesting that he’s not someone who’s narrow-minded about what constitutes “rock.” By inviting people like Levine and Fergie to sing on Slash, the guitarist is perhaps arguing that musical creativity transcends rigid genre definitions, and on occasion he proves his point. Levine’s ballad “Gotten” feels very much cut from the same cloth as your typical Maroon 5 single, but it’s nonetheless an inviting middle-ground between Levine’s adult-oriented pop and Slash’s expressive solos. But then you have Fergie’s “Beautiful Dangerous,” which is an unmitigated disaster. Going for a slice of sleazy, sultry stripper-rock, Fergie snarls and moans throughout “Beautiful Dangerous,” but the track ends up sounding like a pop star’s lame idea of hard rock, and as a result it’s nothing but cheesy. Often, the individual pop tracks feel more like that particular singer’s work than they do the product of Slash. For example, Kid Rock’s “I Hold On” is a standout mid-tempo tune, but it draws heavily from the soul-infused sound Kid pursued to great effect on his Rock N Roll Jesus. Ironically, Slash’s solo album may be the first case of an artist ceding too much of the limelight to his guest stars.

Maybe not surprisingly, Slash is at its best when the guitarist hooks up with veteran rock and punk vocalists. Lemmy’s “Doctor Alibi” is a terrific burning-rubber rocker filled with bad attitude and strutting riffs, and Iggy Pop’s “We’re All Gonna Die” celebrates the inevitability of mortality by throwing one decadent party. But beyond being album highlights, these two songs reveal Slash’s pleasures as well as its limitations. It’s fun to hear all these different vocalists teaming up with Slash, but the songs can sometimes seem too tailored to the singer’s individual styles. Rather than a brilliant meeting of the minds, Slash is just a solid piece of craftsmanship that plays it a little too safe. You’ll be entertained by Slash but not blown away. Then again, maybe a conservative approach was wise – the most daring song on here is the Fergie track, and perhaps tellingly, it’s also easily the worst.