Slash - Slash

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-rago … 25010.html

With NIN's drummer and Jane's Addiction's bass player in tow plus rock royalty the likes of Chris Cornell, Kid Rock, Dave Grohl, Motorhead's Lemmy Kilmeister, The Cult's Ian Astbury, and many more soop-uh-stahs, Slash's first solo album amazingly shows continuity and showcases expert co-songwriting despite all of the musical influences involved. Producer Eric Valentine helps keep the fracas focused, Slash making it clear it's his record every time his guitar rips away from the tracks and their guests.

However, despite its being a solid release, this is old school rock 'n' roll, and it can sometimes get a little too reliable. For instance, the first track, "Ghost," goes exactly where you think it will, the music being more like a friend that's got your back than one that will make you push your boundaries. Ozzy's vocal on the initially pretty "Crucify The Dead" sounds a little aged (or like some cross between a pronunciation-challenged Donald Fagen and Joe Walsh), then becomes the Osbourne we loved when the track loads-up with harmonies and power chords. Fergie sounds especially hot on "Beautiful Dangerous," and Kid Rock shows his Daughtry influences (wait, that's the other way around) on "I Hold On."

"Starlight" and its miles of Myles Kennedy is pretty enough, probably even a potential single, and Lemmy's "Doctor Alibi" is pretty crowd-chant conscious at its chorus. "Saint Is A Sinner Too" likes Zeppelin very much, and "Nothing To Say"'s 32nd-note guitar drills are impressive. But the best piece of rock is ""Watch This" with lots of Slashiness and Dave Grohl, though the most modern rocker seems to be a toss-up between "We're All Gonna Die" (with Iggy Pop's rude little line "Gee, I really like your t**ts") and "By The Sword" whose blues-soul playing and Britty vocal almost evokes George Harrison or at least Chris Bell until it hits the high notes. It's what you might expect from a Slash album, but it might have been cooler for him to give his fans--and himself since he deserves it--a little more than what they could imagine.

Review: Slash better off as a man of mystery

By The Associated Press
http://www.mlive.com/music/index.ssf/20 … s_a_m.html

Can we all agree that Slash, the infamously top-hatted guitar god, is the coolest dude on the planet? His awesome ostrich-nest hair helps; not wearing a shirt for 44 years is impressive, too. But what has really made Saul Hudson stand out is his incredibly uncool co-workers: Guns N' Roses' surly leprechaun, Axl Rose, and Velvet Revolver's zombie scarecrow, Scott Weiland.

As those singers unleashed diva destruction, the shy ax slinger with the serpentine style remained a mystery, hanging back, uncorking snake-bitten solo after solo. Welcome to the Jungle is 23 years old, and Slash's stuttery licks still give me chills.

But on a self-titled new solo album being released Tuesday, Slash is finally emerging from the sideman shadows and revealing himself. He co-writes and jams with a who's who of stars, including Fergie and Kid Rock, but he's calling the shots. So what kind of frontman is he? The answer is not as cool as you'd hope Â'” unless you're a 16-year-old 7-Eleven clerk stuck in 1986.

Slash is such a majestic talent, I expected a head-snapping array of genre-mashing. Have you ever heard him do the Godfather theme? Mind-blowing. Instead, most of Slash is vaguely Dokkenesque Â'” overly slick production, ripe lyrics, rote power chords. Hey, at this very moment I could sing along to at least 10 Ratt songs Â'” not including Round and Round. But even the suburban dirtball in me is bored.

Opening cut Ghost, featuring Ian Astbury from the Cult, is a midtempo clunker: "Kill the ghost that hides in your soul / Rock 'n' roll." Ozzy Osbourne shows up on Crucify the Dead, a direct shot at Axl Rose: "We were like brothers with the world in our hands / You always had too much to say / Someday you'll look back and you'll wonder why / You let it all slip away." That's a decent punch, but the song ultimately plays like a lame Bark at the Moon B side.

The missed opportunities are myriad. Old pal Duff McKagan and Foo Fighter Dave Grohl jam on Watch This Dave, which never reaches the expected transcendent highs. Wolfmother's Andrew Stockdale, the one guy with bigger hair than Slash's, shows up on By the Sword, but the pseudo-mythic vamp only skirts greatness. Slash's playing on Doctor Alibi is ferocious, a Jackson Pollock painting come to life, but Motorhead's Lemmy sounds as if he's singing it from a busted wheelchair.

There are a few highlights. Fergie and Slash are sexy as all get-out, so it makes sense that the gentlemen's-club grind of Beautiful Dangerous works, especially her high-wailing Axl impression. I Hold On is more Kid Rock than Slash, but it has the gospel-tinged makings of a hit. And who would have thought that the strange-bedfellows inclusion of Maroon 5's Adam Levine would pay off? The black-and-bluesy Gotten features Slash's best solo, slowly exploding like a broken heart.

This is a chummy album: newbies paying respects, Slash nodding to his heroes. But something's off. Maybe the problem is that, for all the madness of Rose and Weiland, Slash thrived on insanity, darkness, danger. Or maybe, for a man who hides his face from the world, he's better off lurking in the shadows and simply letting the mystery be.

I listened Better yesterday, after like a year, and I was surprised, cause I thought it was better. I didn't even wait till the end of the song. Better is very forced, like the whole album. Axl wanted to make something great and contemporary and artistic, but he wanted it too hard, without great ideas to start with, and the zillion layers couldn't hide that most of the songs based on nothing.

Slash Great news! I have finally received all the European, Asian & Australian tour dates. I will post them all next week. Iiiii|; ), #slash