Michael Monroe
Sensory Overdrive
Universal/Spinefarm
Without getting bogged down by the finer points of the multi-page CV that details the history, talent, and accomplishments of each one of the members that make up Michael Monroe’s new super-backing band, it can be said that the Hanoi Rocks frontman has never surrounded himself with such an awesome cast in his entire solo career. With Sammi Yaffa (Hanoi Rocks) on bass, Ginger (The Wildhearts) and Steve Conte (New York Dolls) on guitar, and Karl Rockfist on drums, Monroe has taken care to assemble an ensemble that thrives on friendship, familiarity, tradition, energy, pedigree, and musicianship, and the music reflects that enriched bounty in big, bold ways. Without sacrificing his signature style, which usually involves plenty of harmonica and sax, Monroe ratchets up the power well past pretty pleasure, making Sensory Overdrive a cannon shot of sleaze n’ roll that’s equal parts sparkly pop and heavy punk rock fury. There’s no doubt that Ginger’s sticky fingerprints are all over this one, his hook-ladened influence practically dripping off every riff and chorus like pomegrante syrup laced with arsenic, but it’s the band’s chemistry, punctuated by Monroe’s familiar Norwegian rasp, that pushes this one into the red. Sensory Overdrive is full of so many eyelined hits it’ll make your head spin, and while it does an amazing job of playing to your old school sensibilities, it also stands up as compellingly current. Oh, and bonus points (as if it needed any) for bringing in Lucinda Williams (“Gone Baby Gone”) and Lemmy (“Debauchery as a Fine Art”) to help make this album even more special.
Check out the video for “’78″ from Sensory Overdrive!
Posted by Jeff on Apr 10 2011 in Reviews
Tags: '78, big, bold, cannon, Debauchery as a Fine Art, dripping, energy, eyelined, familiarity, friendship, fury, Ginger, Gone Baby Gone, Hanoi Rocks, harmonica, heavy, hook, Karl Rockfist, Lemmy, Lucinda Williams, Michael Monroe, musicianship, New York Dolls, Norwegian, old school, pedigree, pleasure, pop, Power, punk rock, rasp, riff, rock n' roll, Sammi Yaffa, sax, Sensory Overdrive, sleaze, sparkly, Steve Conte, sticky, The Wildhearts, tradition, Universal/Spinefarm
This piece of shit movie is supposed to be about disenfranchised teens, the bonds of friendship, and sexual curiosity, blah blah, but I think it’s just an hour and a half of poorly acted, terribly scripted, rape. Or necrophilia, depending on how you want to look at it. First, I couldn’t get past the 20-something actors that are suppose to be high school kids. It didn’t work on 90210 and it’s not working here. Second, given the averages laid out by this film, 100% of men — sorry, boys — who come across a bound and dead (or near dead) body of a woman aren’t going to try and help her, but are going to fuck her repeatedly. If only the girls at school would just spread their legs, then these guys wouldn’t have to fuck a living corpse, huh? I guess that’s another point this movie is trying to make, so pay attention ladies. And about this dead girl? Well, she’s not really dead in so much as she can’t die. Don’t even bother asking why or how she got that way because that kind of detail isn’t important. The important thing is, she’s naked and not really willing.