For those of you who know your shit you will be familiar with Slash as the top-hat donning guitarist of Guns N’ Roses and one of the greatest soloists of all time. For the uninitiated, you might have seen him on the box of Guitar Hero somewhere.
The iconic talisman has just released his debut self-titled solo album, boasting a plethora of star names with whom he collaborated, recognizable even to those with merely a passing interest in music. Fergie, Nicole Scherzinger, Kid Rock and even Ozzy Osbourne lend their vocal talents as supporting cast members.
However, this array of collected talent, as one review put it, ”seemingly dazzled all involved into forgetting to pen many memorable tunes”. This is a harsh criticism, but I can see where the reviewer is coming from. That is not to say however that there are not some real gems on the album. Notably, ‘Ghost’ featuring Ian Astbury, ‘Nothing to Say’ featuring M. Shadow and ‘Beautiful Dangerous’ with Fergie are all very good tracks. The latter in particular showing a vocal range previously unbeknownst of the Dutchess. But it is the overlooked ‘Gotten’ with Maroon 5’s Andrew Levine which is my personal favourite, with its melancholy soothing which sees me drift off into my own little world.
True classics there may not be on this album, but no one can criticise Slash here as he displays many of the phenomenal rifts which have earned him the countless accolades he currently holds. Perhaps however the outside influence of the list of superstars on the album stops this from being truly great. While Slash could very well have chosen to sit back, jam and wait for the vocalists to try and fall in with his style, instead each track displays characteristics of a genuine coming together of many ideas. This results in Slash not playing like, well, like Slash. With that said, this album is fun and harks back to that eighties style rock which I love. The album is at worst passable, but there are some tracks which I’m happy to listen too more than once.
- AF
