SirAlex's Full Review: I've Got the Rock 'N' Rolls Again by Joe Perry Pro...
In 1981, Joe Perry returned to the studio for a second time with his solo band. Although the band did not have much support from its record label, the tour was successful enough that the band had enough money to record another album. Lead singer Ralph Morman was fired, and that is a reason that this album is better than the first. Replacing him was Charlie Farren, who also played rhythm guitar. Farren was also a good songwriter, supplying music and lyrics to several songs on the album. The Joe Perry Project’s sophomore album had a much more rock vibe to it, as opposed to the blues and R&B influenced first album.
The album starts off fast with “East Coast, West Coast”. This song has some off those terrible rock lyrics of the era (“I’ll be rocking and rolling for you” –yuck!) but the music is fantastic and one of the album’s best. This shows that Charlie Farren’s vocals are much more fitting to Joe Perry’s guitar work (although no one can compare to Steven Tyler). “No Substitute for Arrogance” slows the pace down a little, but Joe Perry lets loose a fantastic guitar solo. The band experiments in some heavy blues on the album’s title track. Joe Perry has always had a fondness for the blues, and he shows his love for it on this song. The barre chord progression of “Buzz Buzz” is reminiscent of the Aerosmith tune “Spaced” from the Get Your Wings album. In fact, if it wasn’t for Farren’s voice, this sounds very much like an Aerosmith tune.
Joe Perry sings about his life’s struggles in “Soldier of Fortune”. However, no matter how rough his life had become, he was still able to create some incredible music. His frenzied guitar solos on this song rival anything he has ever done in his incredible career, even with Aerosmith. The album takes on an almost R&B vibe on “TV Police”. Joe Perry makes use of his talk box to create some cool sound effects on this tune (a la Sweet Emotion). The lyrics are repetitive after a while, but this song has an incredible groove. The vibe from that song continues with “Listen to the Rock”. This song is one of the weakest songs on the album, but still manages to have a good beat.
Bassist David Hull composed “Dirty Little Things”. The guitar riffs on this song sound like something that would come out of the early 90s (reference the Spin Doctors). The harmony vocals of Hull, Perry, and Farren make this song the strongest vocal performance that the Joe Perry Project gives on this album. “Play the Game” is a slow and brooding song. It has a beautiful, yet somber melody. It’s unfortunate that a great song like this ends up on an obscure album where not that many people got to hear it. The albums closes with “South Station Blues”, which has an infectious groove. Although Joe Perry's vocals are a little dry, this still manages to be a good song,
Overall, this is a generic rock album with solid guitar playing. It is obvious that after listening to this record why Joe Perry is such a big part of Aerosmith. This album shows him gaining more confidence in both his playing and song writing. He only wrote two songs by himself on this record, so it's obvious that he was working more with the members of the band. That really shows in the music, which is much more cohesive than in the band’s previous record.
Song Selection:
1. East Coast, West Coast
2. No Substitute for Arrogance
3. I’ve Got the Rock ‘n’ Rolls Again
4. Buzz Buzz
5. Soldier of Fortune
6. TV Police
7. Listen to the Rock
8. Dirty Little Things
9. Play the Game
10. South Station Blues
Top picks: Dirty Little Things, Play the Game, South Station Blues
Songs to skip: none
Band Members:
Joe Perry: guitars, vocals
Charlie Farren: guitars, vocals
David Hull: bass, vocals
Ronnie Stewart: drums, percussion
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