ARTIST: Kid Rock
ALBUM: Rebel Soul
LABEL: Atlantic Records
RELEASE DATE: November 19, 2012
Does The Kid Still Rock?
Written by Dan Sinclair
Photo by Clay Patrick Mcbride
Rebel Soul is the ninth studio album from Robert James Ritchie, better known as Kid Rock. The Michigan native has changed his sound more often than ex-wife Pamela Anderson changed her breast size, going from underground hip-hop artist to big time rap rocker to his current status as blues-country-rock singer/songwriter. I’m hoping he tries for opera next time around. That should be fun.
The album kicks off with a song called “Chickens in the Pen” because…well, why the fuck not? We get a steady drum beat and then the scratchy familiar scream of Kid Rock letting us know that “The mule keeps kicking the chickens in the pen!” This is followed by some run-of-the-mill semi-bluesy guitar and we find out that because the mule keeps kicking those chickens in the pen, that we should, “Rock all night and do it again.” Pretty decent way to start out the album with the party-it-up attitude that all Lil’ Kid Rockers out there have come to know and love.
Next is “Let’s Ride” because you can’t stick around after rocking two nights in a row, you got to go somewhere else and take a shower or something. This song is a little more modern-day rock than the previous bluesier song with the melodic chorus of “Come on and grab the gun, let’s ride.” If that sounds familiar to you, it’s because it’s the first single and one of the catchier tracks on the album.
Don’t worry, the blues return on “CATT Boogie.” Kid even pronounces the word “situation” as “sitch-y-ation” to provide that down-home country feel that you can only get growing up outside of Detroit. But you get some cool wah-wah on the gee-tar, so what else can one really ask for? A cover of Ronnie Love’s “Detroit, Michigan” follows suit next, featuring some re-worked lyrics that talk about other cities besides Detroit.
The album gets a little more radio-friendly with the title track “Rebel Soul,” which I wouldn’t be surprised to see as the next single. Pretty catchy, but with a familiar sound to it. I don’t know if the familiarity of the song comes from sounding like many other songs on the radio over the past few years or because the album just doesn’t seem to go anywhere. As “God Save Rock and Roll,” comes on next, I begin to think that it’s the latter reason.
Next is a cover of John Eddie’s “Happy New Year,” and it’s plain to see Kid Rock just simply doesn’t have the depth to his voice that Eddie does. He does say, “Let’s get shitfaced,” in there, so there’s that. “Celebrate” is next and moves a lot faster, but other than that it’s just more of the same.
“The Mirror” is a much slower song than anything else on the album, but also features the most auto-tuning than any other track. The lyrics, “I feel like I’m not ever gonna rise above you,” make me wonder who Rock’s talking about? Or maybe he’s speaking about his music itself? Either way, it is an interesting change of pace for the album.
The album continues more same ol’ same ol’ as before with “Mr. Rock and Roll,” before Kid Rock briefly returns to his roots with “Cucci Galore,” a semi-cover of Ultra-V’s “Playboy Mansion.” Here, unlike anywhere else on the album, Rock does a little rapping and bellows out his famous rock scream. Fans who love Kid Rock’s as-far-from-urban as possible image will probably enjoy “Redneck Paradise.”
The last two songs “Cocaine and Gin,” and “Midnight Ferry” are actually arguably the best songs on the album—the former because of its good use of old-time slow country and the latter probably because it’s the best musical arrangement on the record. If you can make it through the rest of Rebel Soul before these two superior tracks, I applaud your patience.
Rebel Soul starts off decent enough with some catchy, blues tracks, but the album never really progresses and the sound quickly starts to grow old. While the last two tracks are rather impressive and not something one would expect on a Kid Rock album, I still think it may be time for Kid Rock to either advance to a new sound or return to his rap/rock roots.