"Songs of Life" is the latest solo album from
Poison singer
Bret Michaels. Everyone who has his previous solo albums knows that Bret has experimented with diverse styles. Bret has been writing music for a soundtrack, Country songs and even released a storyteller's CD.
"Songs of Life" is not that far from the great party Rock performed by
Poison, where
Bret Michaels has been a founding member.
The common denominator of the album are, that all songs are inspired by events in Bret's life (compare the album title). It has provided the whole album with an honest and personal character, which will be detailed on the track by track review.
If included on
Poison's "Hollyweird" album
Menace to Society would have been a top track. The lyrics are typical
Poison style about a working guy (Bret) wanting to quit his job. The song is up-tempo and is a great kick ass opener to the album. The lyrics were written back when Bret was 17 working as a busboy.
Bittersweet has a fantastic hookline and great melodic guitars.
Bittersweet rates among the best tracks on the album. The style is party rock.
Raine is a tribute to
Bret Michaels daughter Raine. This is also the first single and an obvious choice, since this is a fantastic power ballad in the vein of
Poison's huge hits.
Raine builds up for climax in the chorus and is among the strongest cuts on the disc.
Forgiveness is an acoustic ballad - again lyrically dealing with the simple working man's struggle. Even though this is an acoustic song, it has a quite powerful chorus, which grows after each listen. I like the guitar solo because it is playing a melody line - no fast shredding just a great melodic solo.
A heavy guitar riff starts
Loaded Gun, which is a typical 80's rocker with a big chorus, flashy guitar solo and pounding drums. It's kind of refreshing to hear musicians not ashamed of the 80' style that was their claim to fame.
The riff to
Strange Sensation is another variation of Kinks classic
You really got me chords. This is the first song that doesn't live up to the high standard on the album. Not a bad song, but it sounds like a standard tune from
Bret Michaels pen.
The title track is an acoustic driven song with lyrical references from
Poison's
Flesh and Blood (Sacrifice) in the chorus. You can't help hum along the chorus.
The album changes pace with
Songs of Life and
One More Day. The last-mentioned is completely acoustic with lyrics about September 11th.
I remember opens with a blues harmonica and Bret saying "Gimme some guitar". The album is back on track with a great Rock 'n' Roll song. The song has a pounding rhythm bringing inspiration from classic Rock style with the harmonica and boogie rock style.
Speaking of classic rock, the chorus for
It's my Party has the refrain line "It's my party - I can cry if I want to". That similar to Lesley Gore's old hit. However, Bret has also added the line "I can get high if I want to", which for sure is not to be found on Lesley Gore's song. An overdriven guitar riff characterizes this party rocker.
Bret's uncle, who was killed during World War II has inspired Bret to write
War Machine, which is dedicated to Bret's father who served in the Korean conflict and his cousin, who was in Vietnam. "Freedom comes at a bloody price" is a line from the song, which Bret has felt on his own family. Knowing the background, this is a strong song lyrically, but song-wise it is the weakest on the album. Bret uses some vocal distortion on the chorus and the sound doesn't match its predecessors.
The album includes 2 bonus tracks.
Party Rock Band is off the soundtrack from "A letter from Death Row" while
Stay with Me closes the album beautifully with a piano ballad originally taken from Bret's storyteller's album "Ballads, Blues and Stories"
Altogether there are a few standard songs on the album, but you have to credit Bret for the overall style of the album, which is kick ass Rock 'N' Roll. The songs are rooted in
Poison's style spiced with a few acoustic things displaying
Bret Michaels as a singer, who has some good stories to tell. The personal lyrics make this a trustworthy album. Songs like
Bittersweet and
Raine are both great contributions to the already strong collection of songs that Bret has penned.
Together with Cliff Calabro, who also was a huge contributor to Rikki Rockett's solo album,
Bret Michaels has produced the album. The production could be a little better since the sound is a little thin played at low volume.
Written by
Michael Saturday, July 5, 2003
Show all reviews by MichaelRatingsMichael: 7.5/10Members: No members have rated this album yet.
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