DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND, released March 22, 2005 is the sixth full-length studio album by Billy Idol and features his first newly-recorded material in over a decade. The album also reunited Idol in the studio with guitarist Steve Stevens and producer Keith Forsey. All songs were co-written by Idol except "Plastic Jesus". The album was engineered and mixed by Brian Reeves at the Jungle Room in Los Angeles. Idol and the band supported the album with a world tour of rock festival appearances in 2005 and 2006, including several performances on the Vans Warped Tour. The song "Scream" was used in an episode of Viva La Bam, in which Idol also guest starred, where he and Bam Margera sing it as they go down the highway.
DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND is that rarest of items, a comeback attempt that actually works. Previously, Billy Idol had taken a dozen-year respite from recording, conceivably recovering from the aesthetic trainwreck of 1993's woefully misguided techno-rock attempt, CYBERPUNK. The year 2005 found the former MTV pinup finally regaining his crown as sneering rock & roll bad boy. The punk-inflected, occasionally metal-tinged hard rock that leaps off this disc is in no small part made possible by the return of Idol's longtime foil, guitarist Steve Stevens, who helped make Idol's 80's hits so memorable. Together, they craft a sound more unrelentingly full-throttle than anything else in Idol's catalog. While there are hooks aplenty, the raging guitars and kamikaze drums rarely halt their rampage until near the end of the disc, when things slow down slightly for a couple of semi-ballads. Ultimately, DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND almost seems closer in spirit to Idol's work with the original pop-punks, Generation X, than to his more commercial solo recordings.
Personnel: Billy Idol (vocals); Steve Stevens (guitar); Derek Sherinian (keyboards); Stephen McGrath (bass guitar); Brian Tichy (drums).
Track Listing:
1. Super Overdrive - 4:18 2. World Comin' Down - 3:33 3. Rat Race - 4:17 4. Sherri - 3:17 5. Plastic Jesus - 4:53 6. Scream - 4:42 7. Yellin' at the Xmas Tree - 4:14 8. Romeo's Waiting - 3:42 9. Body Snatcher - 3:57 10. Evil Eye - 4:32 11. Lady Do or Die - 4:37 12. Cherie - 3:47 13. Summer Running - 4:30
Devil's Playground (2005)
ReplyDeleteBilly Idol
Album Description:
DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND, released March 22, 2005 is the sixth full-length studio album by Billy Idol and features his first newly-recorded material in over a decade. The album also reunited Idol in the studio with guitarist Steve Stevens and producer Keith Forsey. All songs were co-written by Idol except "Plastic Jesus". The album was engineered and mixed by Brian Reeves at the Jungle Room in Los Angeles. Idol and the band supported the album with a world tour of rock festival appearances in 2005 and 2006, including several performances on the Vans Warped Tour. The song "Scream" was used in an episode of Viva La Bam, in which Idol also guest starred, where he and Bam Margera sing it as they go down the highway.
DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND is that rarest of items, a comeback attempt that actually works. Previously, Billy Idol had taken a dozen-year respite from recording, conceivably recovering from the aesthetic trainwreck of 1993's woefully misguided techno-rock attempt, CYBERPUNK. The year 2005 found the former MTV pinup finally regaining his crown as sneering rock & roll bad boy. The punk-inflected, occasionally metal-tinged hard rock that leaps off this disc is in no small part made possible by the return of Idol's longtime foil, guitarist Steve Stevens, who helped make Idol's 80's hits so memorable. Together, they craft a sound more unrelentingly full-throttle than anything else in Idol's catalog. While there are hooks aplenty, the raging guitars and kamikaze drums rarely halt their rampage until near the end of the disc, when things slow down slightly for a couple of semi-ballads. Ultimately, DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND almost seems closer in spirit to Idol's work with the original pop-punks, Generation X, than to his more commercial solo recordings.
Personnel: Billy Idol (vocals); Steve Stevens (guitar); Derek Sherinian (keyboards); Stephen McGrath (bass guitar); Brian Tichy (drums).
Track Listing:
1. Super Overdrive - 4:18
2. World Comin' Down - 3:33
3. Rat Race - 4:17
4. Sherri - 3:17
5. Plastic Jesus - 4:53
6. Scream - 4:42
7. Yellin' at the Xmas Tree - 4:14
8. Romeo's Waiting - 3:42
9. Body Snatcher - 3:57
10. Evil Eye - 4:32
11. Lady Do or Die - 4:37
12. Cherie - 3:47
13. Summer Running - 4:30