The Hot Rocks: The Hot Rocks Review
They may announce at the beginning of their rock epic that one needs to: "put away all your girly magazines" but this exciting rock combo could be forgiven for their concern for social purity. 'The Hot Rocks' move effortlessly from the manic, frenetic 'A-OK' to the bittersweet ballad of 'The One' in the blink of an eye, the listener treated to one of the most eclectic albums ever to emerge from the rock stables. Eric Rocks is awesome on lead guitar and vocals. The enigmatic 'The Chad' is stunning in his performance on vocals and secondary guitars. Chris on bass and 'Animal Hees' on drums complete the rock ensemble. 'Last Day Of Summer' is a track sodden by the taste of summer, the instruments allowed to play at their own pace for long extended minutes of pure bliss.
'Take A Dip' is a darkly erotic song and tributes must be paid to those who put this recording together on a production level because the subtle shift in sound within and between songs allows the listener to embark on a journey through the music. The tongue-in-cheek instructions on the album packaging which inform the listener that the disc needs to be cleaned by a special type of cloth in a special way, is just as irritating as a chef telling you how to eat your main course. 'Shake It Off' does have the essence of tedium about it, particularly as one could quite easily read things into the track and come to the conclusion they spoke of something other than "shaking off" the shackles of the state or emotional limitations.
Even the track list on the reverse of the CD packaging is against the listener, reminding him or her that the best way to enjoy the record is to repeat tracks 1- 13 ad nausea. This is an interesting approach to marketing of both band and material, particularly as the band seem tired after a mere ten songs and begin the painful process of simply singing the same few couplets about how they have and abundance of what women need. 'Faster' can only be a song about narcotic stimulation and it would have been a better strategy to employ innuendo in place of in-you-face profiteering to express the anti-establishment message of the tune. That way, the song could have been enjoyed by all and understood by some.
'The Hot Rocks' are ambassadors of rock to a new generation. They need to remove the long blonde hair, constantly murmuring about girls and other Hanson associations that dog them throughout this showcase of an album. For the moment, I'm keeping my hitherto unheard of collection of girly magazines. Whether 'The Hot Rocks' are rebelling against the lad's magazine culture or have something against a Cosmopolitan profile of Jude Law's spurned girlfriend is unclear. What you can be sure of is that you’re about to hear a lot more from 'The Hot Rocks'.