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diesel
'Under The Influence'
Year: 2011
Label: Liberation
Track Listing: 1. Spanish Castle Magic
2. Cross Cut Saw
3. I'm A Ram
4. Have Love, Will Travel
5. Thang 5
6. Can't Get Next To You
7. Cinnamon Girl
8. Thang 4
9. Wind Cries Mary
10. Going Down
11. Reconsider Baby
12. It's All In TheGame
13. Caladonia
14. Rumble
15. Thang 6
Dave’s 'Under The Influence' - Diesel Review:
We’ve all heard the famous lyrics “It’s a long way to the top if you want to rock ‘n’ roll”, well for poor old Diesel it is certainly proving to be “a long way BACK to the top if you want to rock ‘n’ roll”. There was long period when Diesel couldn’t put a foot wrong, he was not only the ‘it’ boy but his songs were all over radio, and were so popular they bobbed up on Channel 7’s Footy Telecast… a lot. Those days are gone, and while Diesel tried (some what unsuccessful) to re-invent himself under his own name, Mark Lizotte, he hasn’t given up. He’s returned to the famous stage name of Diesel and just dropped Under The Influence.
I really wanted to love this album because Diesel was a one of my faves growing up, but I just can’t get into his new stuff, a pity because Under The Influence does start off pretty promising. ‘Spanish Castle Magic’ sees Diesel fuse brass and rock together well and then comes ‘Cross Cut Saw’. Now they say that a good euphemism in a song work well, but I’m not sure lines like ‘cutting wood for a girl’ works… in fact the whole Cross-Cut Saw and girl thing kinda comes across like something from a horror film rather than terribly romantic.
‘I’m A Ram’ may have one of the worst song titles of 2011 but again the brass sound does shine through, and then comes the highlight of the album with ‘Have Love, Will Travel’ which is full on dirty rock, something that Diesel excels at. It’s quickly followed up by ‘Thang 5’, an instrumental piece that reminds us once again what a great guitarist Diesel can be.
‘Can’t Get Next To You’ is a massive let down but then ‘Cinnamon Girl’ pushes Diesel back to the forefront, a great sound and a great track. ‘Thang 4’ sees Diesel go for some smooth instrumental work while ‘Wind Cries Mary’ is slow and soulful, the same can be said for ‘Going Down’ which throws in some blues for the hell of it.
Under The Influence then really becomes hit-and-miss. ‘It’s All In The Game’ is a real ‘nothing’ instrumental track while ‘Caladonia’ is real swinging blues, which I guess is Diesel trying to win over a new breed of fans. ‘Rumble’ is catchy but then ‘Thang 6’ is yet another let down.RATING:- **½ (out of 5)