Dizzy Reed solo album

Looks like Dizzy Reed's solo album has been released in Australia Feb 17, 2018!

For Reed, Rock ‘N Roll Ain’t Easy marks a time when the musician was pushing through constant touring with GNR, along with work on Hookers & Blow. He admitted, “There were a lot of obstacles and barriers that I had to overcome. Guns N’ Roses is my priority, and with Hookers & Blow there was a sudden demand for us… There were times where I just wanted to give up with this record, but I persevered.“

The record’s fourth song is a personal favourite, with the songwriter’s vocals and piano coming together to create a powerful track. Of the train of thought behind that song, Reed explained, “It’s actually a remake of a song called ‘The Air’, on a movie soundtrack called The Still Life, and Adrian (Young) from No Doubt came in and played drums to it after we recorded it. He said, ‘If you ever record this song again for real, I want to play drums on it’. So we called him up, and he had a game of golf but he showed up (laughs). He nailed it and shot his round. But yeah, we ended up changing the lyrics a little bit and re-titling it”.

https://tinyurl.com/ybnl3xuv

I listened to it. Quite old school. Not really my cup of tea but also not offensive in any way.

To my surprise, I "found" Dizzy's solo album in a shop yesterday! It was there on the shelf, placed at the front of the section so that I instantly saw it (I hadn't even looked for it, this was completely unexpected). I took this a clear sign that I should buy it! It had a "normal" price for a new cd (in this shop) at 14,99 Euro (most are even at 16,99).


This is being written after the first listening, so forgive me if I might change my mind on some things later!

It is a solid "rock album", of course Dizzy is not re-inventing the wheel here. Some songs sound good to my ears, some more "average" - at least none of them stuck out like a sore thumb, i.e. they are all "listenable". Which is good, as I'm sure I will listen to this a lot in my car. It's perfect rock music for a nice drive in good weather (as it is right now). There is an impressive list of co-musicians and collaborators. Most interesting for us here is track 8, as it features Frank Ferrer, Tommy Stinson, Richard Fortus and Bumblefoot (plus Alex Rossi from Quiet Riot; and Del James, who also co-wrote and produced it!) So this might give an impression how the "old" Gn'R concert line-up from 2009 to 2014 might've sounded in a studio!?
I got to admit, this song ("Understanding") didn't strike me as the strongest of this album, but the band on it does sound good. (Still, it does not really give a hint how for example a Gn'R album in 2013 might've sounded...)
Fortus and Ferrer are also on a few other tracks. Other "guests" range from Ricky Warwick to Adrian Young.
The above-mentioned "The Air" (now re-titled "Fragile Water" and re-recorded) is the only song I'd heard before (many years ago, via Dizzy's Myspace I think - does anyone remember Myspace?) and it's a good one.
Dizzy's vocals are quite strong, as is (of course) his piano playing! The songs' lyrics are mostly about (difficult) relationships (as far as I heard 'em till now). The music is what I would describe as "mainstream rock" (as Soulmonster said, in a good "old-fashioned" style). I'm certain it will be an album I will pull out from time to time (especially to listen in the car).

Good of Dizzy to finally release the album. Thanks for the review

My pleasure.

Soulmonster wrote:Good of Dizzy to finally release the album.

Yeah, it took a long time (just a bit like with C.D.)! Looks like he found a good record company with a good distribution! (Btw, it says "manufactured in the EU" on the backcover, even though it is an Australian company.)

Of course I need to correct myself: while I had heard "The Air" many years ago, of course, with the release this year, I did hear "This don't look like Vegas" and the title song online.
So there were three which weren't totally new to me when I listened to the album.
Meanwhile I put it on in the car, which was a lot of fun. "Mystery in Exile" is one of my faves so far.

New video: