Kid brought back the ATTITUDE WITH A PERSONALITY that was missing in hard rock since Axl lost his mind. We've got our rock'n'roll frontman for the new millennium - following Mick Jagger, Robert Plant, Steve Tyler, and Mr. Rose. A void that needed to be filled 'cause it sure was empty when all we had was Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder complaining with no humor at all. Hey, Kid brought back WOMEN AND BOOZE...and threw PC back into the dumpster! God bless him!

Bottom line: hey Ritchie - don't fret it if your "Stoned Pimp" fans forsake you for following your dream, us old rock'n'rollers welcome you with open arms...we also loved "Devil" and "Cocky", 'cause as Hank, Jr. once sang: "we like all kinds of music and people, 'cause we don't draw no lines". Looks like some of your old rap fans are the ones intolerant to anything with a melody or singing...well, to each his own.


Rock on...no pun intended.   November 18, 2003
 25 out of 30 found this review helpful

I got a confession to make: I'm a country fan. I bet a lot of you are. You heard "Picture"--which somehow made it up the country charts a ways--and you wanna check out Kid Rock. Maybe you'd better check out Sheryl Crow instead.

Now if you're like me, you like different genres of music. I primary dabble in country...but I got a thing for good rock 'n' roll. Now, Kid Rock ain't classic rock 'n' roll--I'm talking Springsteen and John Cougar here--but he has a pretty damn good idea what rock is...and rap...and heavy metal...and country...

The songs--it's all about the songs. "Rock 'n' Roll Pain Train" is anything but painful to listen to (I got a million of 'em!). "Cadillac Pussy" feat. Hank Jr. is a good rocker; and "Black Bob" and "Intro" delve into his rapping more than the other tracks.

Now, as a country fan, my favorites are, of course, the ballads. How about "Do it For You?" Too pop? There's "Feel Like Makin' Love", a good mix of pop/rock/country. And "Hard Night For Sarah" is a remake of a Bob Seger song. "Cold And Empty" is a country ballad--co-written by Kenny Chesney, so of course it's country. And "Single Father" is an emotional number co-written by David Allen Coe.

Not into ballads? Well, my favorite's the tongue-in-cheek "Run Off To L.A.", co-written by and featuring the afore-mentioned Sheryl Crow. "Son of Detroit" is a re-written version of the afore-mentioned Coe's "Son of the South." "I Am" can only be descrived as American Rock 'n' Roll. And "Jackson, Mississippi" is just a good tune. And "Hillbilly Stomp" features the one and only Billy Gibbens (of ZZ Top, you poor person who didn't know that).

Did I miss any? If so--too bad.

So, hopefully you aren't put off by Kid Rock's language. You shouldn't be--a song is a song is a song, and if it has some "expressive" language in it...so much the better (if you want to completely ruin the CD, go by an edited version). If you think you can tough it out--if you're enough of a music fan at heart--then you should go right ahead and purchase this CD. Trust me...if you don't rock with this thing in your CD player, you ain't got a set of ears!


Let the Kid Rock!   November 24, 2003
 12 out of 13 found this review helpful

I would never pretend to be an expert at evaluating what does and does not make a great rock'n'roll album. I don't understand the commercialization of the music industry, but I believe -- as an average Joe -- I do have an understanding of what works, what might work, what fails, what might fail, and what might really stink.

KID ROCK rocks.

Granted, it probably isn't going to be the CD that pleases everyone. It certainly has its fill of explicit lyrics, grinding guitars, and extra heavy boom-boom bass (when necessary). What the album has going for it in volumes, however, is Kid's confidence, and people -- listeners, mainly -- will follow confidence wherever it may lead. Some may call it arrogance, but I think Kid has fashioned an album well worth listening to for adult audiences, spanning the spectrum from hard rock, hiphop, rockabilly, to alt country. Sometimes he screams, sometimes he bellows, and sometimes he reflects ... but, at all times, it's very clear that he's in perfect command of creating the music he wants to create.

Rock n' Roll Pain Train: one great fun listening track. A fun way to open the album.

Cadillac P***y (with Hank Williams, Jr.): an even better great fun listening track. Too bad with lyrics like these it'll never get airplay.

Feel Like Makin' Love: a terrific cover to a rock standard. Turns in one powerhouse performance.

Black Bob: a take-it-or-leave-it track. Reasonably well done. Reasonably well performed.

Jackson, Mississippi: the song resonates long after the tune has ended.

Cold and Empty: introspective rock-style ballad. While some of feels like a retread of other songs featuring similar themes, Kid brings some heart and soul to this in ways unimagined.

Hillbilly Stomp: here's where Kid's confidence comes out to play. Not many performers would risk attempting this tune let alone cutting it to disc. Not the best listen on the album, but worthy of being committed.

I Am Son Of Detroit: again, another nod to confidence, here. Probably plays well in Detroit, no doubt.

Do It For You: better than average performance. Not entirely memorable, but a worthy outing.

Hard Night For Sarah: another great cover. Kid seems a bit slow getting into this, but, come the ending, it's worth the listen.

Run Off To LA: another great duet with Sheryl Crow. Unlike PICTURE, RUN OFF TO LA is all about attitude, of which the two of them have in overabundance.

Single Father: of the more introspective songs on the album, this one resonated the most with me. Some of the lyrics are arguably sugary, but it's the message that matters, and Kid delivers.


Holy Crap   November 12, 2003
 9 out of 43 found this review helpful

I used to be a huge Kid Rock fan. I also don't even mind country music too much. It's just that the image he is trying to pass off as an in your face white trash rapper does not match with this new country-rock singer persona. There is a huge discrepency, and this is probably the most unimpressive cd ive heard in quite a long time. Honestly, all of my friends warned me not to buy it, but I gave him a chance, even after I heard the single, a remake of the Bad Company classic that should be entitled, "More of the same crap." He's gonna have to make a huge comeback for me to consider buying another one of his cd's.


Long way on a they say highway   November 23, 2003
 9 out of 9 found this review helpful

The Devil without a Cause has done it again! Another great album that expresses his deepest thoughts and emotions. The "word on the street" is that Kid Rock went soft and his music has gone country. This may be true for the more naive Kid Rock fans. There is an obvious transition through his last three albums which reflects his growing maturity as an artist and as a human being. Its not to say that he is getting past his prime when it comes to being an American Badass, but he is paying his respect to "good old fashioned" music. He has had the oppurtunity to work with music legends and popular artists such as: Bob Seger, Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top), Sheryl Crow, Eminem, and scores more. By now fans should know what Kid Rock is all about. He's not just in it for the money, fans, women, and booze, not to say that he doesn't mind these things, but above all of this, he does what he does for the music. He does what he does for Detroit. And he does what he does for himself.

In this album the Kid goes back to his roots, which of course are the "sticks" of northern Macomb County in a small town called Romeo. As a child he grew up listening to some of the music that helped define what the word "music" meant to him. Kid Rock has never been the type of artist that is easily predicted. His unique creativity and insight in his music allows him to never be categorized in one genre. As he states in I am, " you'll never put your finger on me."

Now I must admit that Kid Rock never caught my attention until Devil without a Cause. Although I do favor the intensity of that album over the slow jams with Sheryl Crow, I can respect the artists choice in the music that he puts on his album. He isn't trying to win the fans over, he has already done that. Now he writes music for himself and to observe which fans will continue to support and love his music.

I never truly understood what his message was until I attended my very first Kid Rock concert. That night will remain important to me until the day I die. He feeds off the emotion from the crowd. During the show not a single seat in the Palace actually had a someone sitting in it. The show never seemed to stop, the crowd never died down, and the Kid continued his energetic, phantasmagoric performance until he physically could not continue. Which was long after I was pooped. I strongly recommend attending one his shows and witnessing who Kid Rock really is and then you will truly understand what his music is all about.