OK, here’s the deal: You get 14 years and $13 million to make a rock album that doesn’t suck.
It’s the rock ‘n’ roll equivalent of the monkeys given typewriters and infinite time to come up with “Hamlet.”
My point being that Axl Rose’s new Guns N Roses project has high expectations to live up to, given the ridiculous amount of time and resources put into it. In a recent review, Rose calls it “just an album.”
Oh, OK. I’ll just put my money back in my wallet then.
The link between actor Kevin Costner and the Black Hills has made the Academy Award winning actor a topic of interest for folks in these parts ever since he made “Dances with Wolves.”
As an actor, he’s a charismatic fellow who has made some very good and interesting films and some that are flat out difficult to watch. That creates a lot of debate among novices such as myself about his acting ability. I’m suspect he’s a better actor than many give him credit for, but he’s certainly no Lawrence Olivier. If a movie has the Kev and a baseball, I’m likely to want to check it out.
Now, as for his fledgling music career, I doubt he’ll get that much forgiveness from the critics. For one, he isn’t as good as a musician as he is an actor. If you don’t believe me check this out.
That being said, I wouldn’t mind having him at the Deadwood Jam. I suspect he’d be more enjoyable than at least half the lineup. They could stick him somewhere between the spots traditionally held for my personal favorite Gordy Pratt and whatever member of the McEuen family might be in town next September.Of course, actors trying to be rock stars is nothing new. Bruce Willis. Mickey Rourke. Kevin Bacon.I have one word for it all. Ish!
Of course, there is that Jared Leto chap and his alternative band 30 Seconds To Mars. But who else has made the jump. Please, refresh my memory!
It’s been a while since I’ve gotten worked up over a new Ryan Adams album. I loved his solo debut “Heartbreaker,” liked the followup “Gold,” sampled the leftovers collection “Demolition,” and got reeled in again by “Rock N Roll.”
Since then, though, Adams has been prodigious but unsteady. So when I started reading mostly good reviews of his new release, “Cardinology,” I remained skeptical, and even now that it’s been released, I am skeptical enough that I haven’t checked it out. His vast output in the past few years has yielded very little that interests me whatsoever, and I’m dubious that this will be any different.
I haven’t been listening to much music lately. It seems like there’s nothing new under the sun right now. U2’s new one is delayed till next year. There’s no way “Chinese Democracy” can live up to 10 years of hype.
But with the holiday shopping about to rev up, I’m guessing there’s quite a bit of new stuff on the way. The question is whether any of it will be worth repeated listening.
