The Pretty Reckless - Death By Rock And Roll

As you might suspect, my brain plays music virtually non-stop. It's quite jarring when it does stop, actually. It would be natural to assume that my nightly albums have some effect on what actually plays on the mental jukebox, but not as far as i can tell. I am at the mercy of an imaginary subconscious dj so unpredictable a random number generator would say "damn, this guy is good." Every once in a while, though, an ear worm from the real world gets in there and replicates. I've been hearing Cindy Loo Hoo sing the chorus of And So It Went for 4 days now, and i guess we'll just have to exorcise the demons by listening to Death By Rock and Roll, this year's 5th album from The Pretty Reckless. I love the title track, i love the follow up single (though 4 days is testing my patience), but i don't expect to like it. Albums have been pretty dismal these last couple years (at least the few i've been interested enough to listen to), but there's only one way to find out...

... hello, naked Taylor Momsen. I wasn't joking earlier, she quit acting after confusing Jim Carey for Santa Clause, and joined a hard rock band. They are in general great, by the way. I only bring it up, because what's the point of her taking a nude nap on a concrete slab? This isn't exploitation, or scandalous. This is image marketing, but is the bisexual community an actual demographic? That's not a leading question, i really don't know.

What i do know, and i'd put money on it if you were here and in the mood to gamble, is that this is going to be a split personality album. Half the songs will be ball-crusher, biker-chick, the other half will be her internal emotional monologue (positive or negative). At first glance, she'll metaphorically live fast and die messy, but it could turn around at the end. The point is that it's Death By Rock and Roll by The Pretty Reckless. That's the inescapable concept. We're really just going to find out if they did a good job or not, and honestly i'd be really impressed if they could find a way to screw it up.

1 - killer lead-off title track. Just a phenomenal hard rock banger, with the aforementioned motorcycle crash.

2 - pass. This is nonsensical filler. Technically all the lyrics make grammatical sense, but not in relation to each other. And that's the Chef Boyardee-iest solo i've ever heard. Maybe he was going for the sound of a bucket full of worms, but if not, eww.

3 - yes please, more of this. Well, not literally, 4 days, remember. Great, great song, and a completely acceptable use of chorus of children, and the ridiculous solo is totally great here.

4 - blech. Gag me. First of all, counting songs suck. Second of all, if you can't hit that note full out, don't back away from the climax, just cut this crap song from the album. Third, were you a child bride, or something? These numbers don't work no matter what they refer to. Fourth, what the hell does the bass drum and giblets bookends mean? 

5 - i like it a lot, but i'm so confused. Are you running away from your horror show of a hick family to bury yourself in a field by the hanging tree? Like i said, i like the horror vibe, but i think you've mixed your metaphors a little too strong with incompatible ingredients. 

6 - acoustic Lilith Fair ballad, nope. Not that it's bad, it just doesn't belong on this album.

7 - yep, fantastic. Horror, witches, pizzacato strings, best 39 seconds on the whole album. 

8 - nothing has prepared this track. This track is a bit of a shock. It's like if Type O Negative were a southern rock band. It's great, but what the hell, lady?

9 - another acoustic ballad? Must we? Yes, walls are by definition taller than you. If it were shorter than you we would call it a fence. Humpty Dumpty, everyone. 

10 - sitar? Really? The seventh hour? Like, the Tracy Ward book? It is. It must be. I don't know why, but it must be.

11 - John Belushi the acoustics. I don't like this song. You can like it if you want, but it's cheap. Is she 27? Yes. I was gonna gloss over the spurious Harry Connick Jr. 25 connection, but why bother at this point? 

12 - no, shove that harmonica somewhere uncomfortable. Spoiler alert, she didn't die, her boyfriend did. So, she sings a sad song to her motorcycle.

Yep, i'm impressed. They managed to screw up a completely airtight concept. This is two shuffled up EPs that aren't related to each other at all. It's a bad album. I could listen to all but one or two of the songs out of context, but altogether it's bad. The horror themed songs are fantastic, this could have been an amazing southern rock Misfits album. The acoustic tracks would be fine as a stand alone EP. 

Final verdict, this sounds like a mix-tape from a label with only 3 bands. I recommend tracks 1, 3, 5, 7, & 8. The rest just isn't up to par.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kkO36h18K7shYNhJBotB3BNhMi4nFwgd4