Dizzy Reed treats us to his first solo album on Golden Robot Records. I really can’t believe it’s taken him this long to come out with his first Solo Album but “Rock ‘N Roll Ain’t Easy” is hitting on all cylinders right out the gate so the wait was worth it. First off you have the lead song and first hit off the album “This Don’t Look Like Vegas”. This brings it back to some dirty bar, riffing out some mad ass blues licks in a smokey room as the keys are set on fire, to start it all off. Love the presents of the keys to start and how they fade in with the rest and it just goes balls to the walls like a locomotive blazing down your ears. If you’re a fan of GnR your gonna love this track and this whole album as it’s hard to get away from that fast-paced bluesy rock feel. How can this track not be a hit with Dizzy Reed, Ricky Warwick (Thin Lizzy, The Almighty, Black Star Riders), and the legendary Del James (Guns and Roses, Testament, TNT, The Language of Fear) all coming along to write. To top all that off as well you have W.A.S.P’s Rhythm Section of Mike Dupke (Drums) and Mike Duda (Bass) laying down the groove. Ricky, Mayuko Okai and Dizzy drop in the rhythm. Fellow GnR member Richard Fortus hammers it with a riveting solo across this epic dirty rock anthem as Nadja Reed, Chela Johnson and Del James rock the backing vocals.
“Mother Theresa” is a straight up LA rock song and it has it all, wailing hooks, great solo and a groove you can dig into, truly Dizzy has a great voice for this sound and it shows on this track. Moving into a more pop/funk style intro “Cheers 2 R Oblivion” brings me more of a 90’s Pop Grunge feel to it as it progresses out of the intro. Love the closing of this song has a very beautiful flow to it, synth and the finger picking are in perfect harmony together. Nice touch.
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“Fragile Water” for me is the gem on this album. It brings me back to old Rolling Stones as it rolls out and then the steam gets it pumping it seems to get more polished into more of a big power style balled. The lead in this is an eagle just soaring above the night sky and the piano work by Dizzy is the moon putting the whole picture together. You can feel the emotion in the lyrics, very raw. He’s not reinventing the wheel on the next track “Dirty Bomb” but it sure sounds like he was having fun on this one. Every good rock album just needs a good straight ahead rock jam to just bang your head back and forth and I think this track does just that. Punking out a bit on this next track “Mystery on Exile” is a fast-paced stomper that has you locked in with all its thunder. “I Celebrate” is the cream on top for me. Hands down my favorite jam, this has, rock, funk, groove. Its infectious and I want to be infected. Ok I’m back I had my shots I’m good now.
As we roll on we blast into “Understanding” what I love about this album is that it fits into the rock realm but not totally dominated by guitars only. They are obviously all over this album but you can feel that they were silenced to some degree to fit in the amazing finger work splashed in on this one and throughout the album really. “Crestfallen” and “Forgotten Cases” are both great additions to an already stacked mix of rock n roll. Giving you classic Dizzy Reed again the keys, the amazing voice, it all comes together like a glove on these tracks.
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The dirty vocals in “Reparations” are great I’m telling you I had no idea he had such a great voice, again I gotta say it all just jells so well with everything he’s doing on this whole album. Very excited to see what he does on his next album. I’m also not sure how many solos Richard Fortus does on this album but the lead work is brilliant. For our final track, we go with the title of the album “Rock ‘n Roll Ain’t Easy” and the title says it all about this song as it’s a little story about how the life can eat you up and spit you out, road life ain’t easy and either is Rock n Roll but somehow through all these years Dizzy has made it all work.
To close out my final thoughts on this album it’s got what you’re looking for if you’re a true Rock ‘n Roller, it’s kind of a walk down memory lane to a time that has past where the getting was good and the living was hard and it gave you something to write about. I’m sure a lot of these songs came over time and I’m so glad Del pushed Dizzy to release the album.