BILLY IDOL – The Roadside (2021)
Eighties icon BILLY IDOL is set to release ”The Roadside” — his first new release in nearly seven years — on September 17 via Dark Horse Records. Produced by Butch Walker and featuring Idol’s longtime lead guitarist and co-writer Steve Stevens, ”The Roadside” was conceived, recorded, and mixed almost entirely under the shadow of the pandemic.
The new studio material is much closer to Idol’s classic ’80s works than the material of his last album (2014), which we like a lot. The lead single “Bitter Taste” features some of Idol’s most introspective and confessional lyrics ever, as he confronts death, rebirth, and his personal growth in the thirty-one years since his near-fatal 1990 motorcycle accident.
“Certainly, the motorcycle accident was the catharsis, the wake-up moment. A little bit of me got left on that roadside. But it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing in the end; it was a wake-up call. Maybe on that roadside I left behind the irreverent youthful Billy and opened the door for a more attentive person and a more sensitive musician.”
“Bitter Taste” starts off with the strumming of an acoustic guitar. The lyrics portray a man who has lived hard and is unapologetic about doing so. “You should have left me way back, by the roadside.” As usual, I love Steve Stevens’ spectral electric guitar that is ever present but never overwhelms the track. It floats in the background until the very end then bursts forward like tears held back too long.
When Stevens intertwines the acoustic guitar with the electric, it’s money. Shading the light with the dark, it’s the perfect balance. Stevens is one of those guitar greats who never gets the credit he deserves. He and Idol are a fabulous combination.
Here’s also some tracks captured live during the 2014-15 ‘Kings & Queens of the Underground Tour’, all greatly performed and perfectly recorded / produced.
Highly Recommended
01 – Rita Hayworth
02 – Bitter Taste
03 – U Don’t Have To Kiss Me Like That
04 – Baby Put Your Clothes Back On
05 – Postcards from the Past (Live in Houston)
06 – Cradle of Love (Live in Nashville)
07 – Dancing with Myself (Live in Nashville)
08 – Whiskey and Pills (Live in Vienna)
09 – Sweet Sixteen (Live in Odense)
10 – White Wedding (Live in Houston)
11 – Mony Mony (Live in Council Bluffs)
BUY
billyidolstore.com/
