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Social Distortion – Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes
We are currently eighteen days into the new year, and already an album that will be on my shortlist of “Favorite Albums of 2011.” “Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes” is the seventh studio album (their first on Epitaph Records) from legendary (a term that I do not use loosely) SoCal rockers Social Distortion (stream the album by clicking on their name). Almost thirty years after the release of their seminal debut album “Mommy’s Little Monster,” their first new album in seven years finds “Social D” firing on all cylinders.
Don’t be confused; this is not your father’s punk rock album. Actually, on second thought, perhaps it is your father’s punk rock album. Unlike fellow elder statesmen Bad Religion, who dropped the blistering “Dissent of Man” last year to coincide with their own thirty-year anniversary, Social Distortion has mellowed their sound over the years with great results. Frontman Mike Ness has released two countrified solo albums (1999s “Cheating at Solitaire” and “Under The Influences”) that focused less on his gutter punk background and more on the Hank Williams/Bob Dylan influences from his youth. “Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes” finds Ness skillfully combining both worlds into one dynamite rock record.
The first chords of the instrumental opening track “Road Zombie” highlights the signature Les Paul/Marshall cab sound that Social D fans have come to know and love, and segues nicely into “California (Hustle and Flow),” which features Ness’s trademark vocal stylings (which I guess can best be classified as a whispery whine) a Stones-y groove and a gospel choir (you heard me right…a gospel choir). “Gimme The Sweet and Lowdown” has a traditional Social D hook and a chorus that will get stuck in your head for hours (but in a good way, not like a Barney song). Other highlights are “Machine Gun Blues” and “Bakersfield,” the latter of which checks in at well over six minutes; that’s practically half an album of traditional punk songs. The album’s closer, “Still Alive,” has a classic rock feel that will have you playing air guitar in your kitchen (just be careful to tone down the Townshend windmills when others are in the room).
Social Distortion has taken some flack from “old school” fans who claim that the band “isn’t punk” anymore. Those are many of the same fans who chastised Face to Face for going soft on 1998s “Ignorance is Bliss.” Apparently some people would prefer to continue living in their parents’ basement while safety pinning “Casualties” patches and anarchy pins to their faux leather jackets without realizing that musicians grow and change and develop artistically. Ness, who is rapidly rounding the corner toward 50 years old, has been hanging with Bruce Springsteen a lot in recent years, and “Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes” would find a comfortable home in the rock album collections of many Springsteen fan. All of the ‘bottom of his heart’ lyrics and intense vocal urgency that you would expect from Social Distortion are there, but the years have left Ness sounding more hopeful and optimistic than ever. In my opinion, their best album since 1996’s “White Light, White Heat, White Trash,” and maybe their best album hands down.
Listen to “California (Hustle and Flow)” above.