Too much work, too many albums, not enough time...(Part 3)

If you click the links to the two previous albums (self-titled and Vanishing Americans), you will read some verbiage that dumps on the two records previous to this blog, as well.  Though he's always worth the listen because of the fiery guitar and smoky vocals, I still expected this album to fall into the same line of "meh" that the last four records has formed.  Details on Indigenous albums have always been hard to come by, but I searched with renewed fervor when this album passed the keeper test.  "Glad to see that Mato is back in control of his career..." was one comment I found which had me furiously looking to see if he had heeded my advice to plop wifey outside the studio and lock the door.  Nope, she's still listed as co-writer on all but the one cover, but she must have taken a 6th-grade-level writing class because the lyrics aren't nearly as juvenile as before, though I still read comments from others that complained of simplistic lines.  There's very little that hasn't already been written and played in the Blues genre but this album didn't offend my appreciation of the blues like the earlier records. 



Mighty fine, indeed.....

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Damn near impossible to believe this is his first #1 album.  Sure, there were a couple of #2's and another ten or so in the Top 10, but to wait 36 years in this career for a Number 1 is mind-blowing.  I bought this because his last record (one of the #2s) was so good.  And it doesn't disappoint.  Solid quality throughout the album.  The Heartbreakers have to be one of the best backing bands around.  Campbell, Tench, Ferrone, et al...exceptional players.  Nowhere near the best track on the album, this is classic TP style.  I originally had embedded the clip from Jimmy Kimmel's show but it has since been deemed "private," so here's a boring visual version...



I'll get the next record, whenever that is, too.

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Many of the KISS Army legions have tossed this away like an old rag, toeing the company line that bans them from liking Ace.  IMO, it was his guitar that made the early KISS albums the only ones of merit.  Not that the music contained within Space Invader is any different than the parent brand, it's just performed with a crispness and energy that hasn't been found in a KISS record in decades.  Please, if you took those last two slabs of KISS drivel and called the band Smooch, they wouldn't have cracked the charts. 

It was a surprise to me that this was a Top 10 album.  I knew there was more upfront promotion than the previous release, but a #9 debut......really?  Wow...  Only black mark was his version of The Joker...ewwwww, what a stinker.
Saw an interview where he mentioned this as one of his favorite tracks on the album, and one of mine, too...



I like his playing, writing and droning vocal styles.  Keep kicking, Ace...