Kid Rock lets music speak
Bragg delivers news on ‘Bridges’
KBy Mark Kennedy
“Sweet Southern (Broken Bow/BMG/Top
Sugar” Dog)
Getting your new album noticed these days seems to involve elaborate publicity stunts and social media gimmicks, but Kid Rock upped the ante this fall — he flirted with a run for US Senate. Even Taylor Swift hasn’t gone that far.
The Detroit rocker was, of course, just pulling our leg and now that “Sweet Southern Sugar” is out, it’s pretty clear that Kid Rock should have just let the music speak for itself. The faux senator has got himself a darn good album here.
The 10 strong tracks have Kid Rock’s signature stew of Southern rock, rap and country, layered with expletive-laden lyrics that evoke Old Glory patriotism, Don’t-Step-on-Me cockiness and a celebration of redneck culture. It’s sweet all right, with just enough sour to keep it interesting.
There are satisfying arena-ready rockers like “Greatest Show on Earth,” ‘’American Rock ‘n Roll” and “Stand the Pain” along with proud Southern-fried tunes like “Tennessee Mountain Top” and the playful, bluesy “Raining ….”
Kid Rock, whose real name is Robert Ritchie, never expressly discusses politics, but he clearly revels in his political incorrectness. “I’m a thrift store of filth/I was built to enrage,” he sings. “I’m a mountain of fame/the last of my kind.”
His rock-rap anthem “Grandpa’s Jam” — yes, the Kid is now a grandpa — bizarrely name-checks Taylor Swift, J. Paul Getty, Wolfgang Puck, the Doobie Brothers, Chelsea Handler and the Yeti. You kind of have to give him props, even as you chuckle.
In that song, he gets angry at if he’s
LOS ANGELES:
Katy Perry will be the focus of a new display at Los Angeles’ Grammy Museum celebrating some of the
Crowell
Perry
called “white trash” but he also celebrates Southern cliches elsewhere, especially in “Po-Dunk,” where there’s “Bible by the bed and a bottle sittin’ pretty” and a “house full of youngins and a yard full of junk.”
Kid Rock also gets serious with the wistful, suicide-referencing “Back to the Otherside” and a dark cover of the Four Tops’ “Sugar Pie Honey Bunch,” which in his hands now seems to evoke drug addiction. Yes, Kid Rock can go deep, too.
It turns out that Congress’ loss might actually be our gain.
“Bridges Not Walls” (Cooking Vinyl)
Billy Bragg is among the most romantic of protest singers but “Bridges Not Walls” is a newscast of dissent, not a love letter.
Comprising just six songs, the EP gathers Bragg singles released over the past few months, some issued practically as soon as they were written.
A pedal steel lends an Americana flavor on “King Tide and the Sunny Day Flood,” which warns, like Bob Dylan, that the waters around us have grown. But now the rising of the tides is real and best intentions, like dutiful recycling, are simply not enough.
An electric guitar powers Bragg’s cover of Anais Mitchell’s “Why We Build the Wall,” poking holes into some of the justifications for barriers.
A spirited rant against those in favor of leaving the European Union would have been cheered by many of his fans. Instead, Bragg offers a complex, nuanced look at a difficult question on closer “Full English Brexit.”
The tone of the piano ballad is mournful, not angry, and lists the usual pro-Brexit arguments — too many foreigners and too many EU rules to comply with. (AP)
most iconic fashion moments of her career. The exhibit, titled “Katy Perry Frock & Roll: Transforming Music and Fashion,” opened on Nov 7, the same day Perry kicks off her three-night run at LA’s Staples Center as part of her ongoing “Witness” tour. The exhibit will be on display on the Museum’s third floor through spring 2018.
The costumes and wardrobe pieces on display include her Grammy performance and red carpet pieces; outfits from her 151-date Prismatic World Tour, during which she played to 2 million people; and the number she wore when headlining the Super Bowl XLIX halftime show, which remains the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show to date. (RTRS)