Phil Rudd – Head Job .jpg)
www.philruddmusic.com
Rating: B
Phil Rudd was never more famous than when arrested on drug charges… there are stories of hookers visiting him and cleaning his boat… that is not a some new veiled sexual reference. According to some press he enjoyed group sex with multiple prostitutes, and actually had hookers over to clean his boat. F-ing Rockstars…
The controversy cost Rudd his seat on stage with AC/DC, which is bad... but considering that group seems to let anyone sit in with them now… maybe it was not the worst thing in the world. Well, I bet it has affected Phil’s paycheck… and he does likely have hideous lawyer fees… I digress.
So… what happened was Phil went to court and then it looked like he might go to jail and then he was on house arrest… not sure what happened with the hookers and drugs…oh and I think he threatened to kill someone, too... but the charges relating to hiring a killer were dropped the following day.
To be honest, it was crazy. A huge mess. While he was in full party mode he teamed up with Allan Badger and Geoffrey Martin and recorded the album that became Head Job—no doubt inspired by his scantily clad professional *ahem* boat wipers. This was in 2014. The album was released on Universal Group in Australia and New Zealand. There was supposed to be a worldwide release and major publicity campaign, but when the cops show up and the news starts reporting drug charges and threats to kill people and literally find boat loads of hookers on a boat… well, things go bad for you…. unless you are a Rap artist. Phil is not a rap artist; he gets virtually no ‘street cred’ for this. The album’s global release was shelved while Phil did his time.
Oh… by the way, I will eventually get to the music, but man you just can’t make this stuff up. I need to let you know that I am going to say a bad word soon. This offends some of my readership… I get nasty posts and emails when I cuss so I thought I should warn you… even though those offended seem to be reading an article about a guy who did a lot of things much worse than curse. Here it comes: Phil fucked up. I mean, dude…what were you thinking? And where can I get some of that ? OOPS. I mean I hope you learned your lesson!
According to Rudd, he got better. Now that he has been released from his 8-month sentence, Phil is being a good boy and getting his mind checked on a regular basis. Man, talk about dirty deeds done dirty cheap!
Here is what the man of the hour has to say for himself, “[My] hell raising days are over... I see a psychiatrist once a week and I'm closer than ever to my children. I still have all my flash cars but now I want to grow chillies."
In addition to harvesting the perfect jalapeno, Rudd is going to start promoting that Head Job album again. It is released worldwide on September 30, 2016.
What does one expect from Head Job? Oh my… there are so many puns. Alas, I will leave them to your own imagination. Head Job is not a typical AC/DC album. Phil was their drummer so the natural inclination to think it will sound like High Voltage, Back in Black or even Powerage is understandable. That inclination is also incorrect.
The album is pretty much garage band three-chords/easy solos/gruff voice/drums like a human metronome stuff… Oh wait… that description sounds a lot like AC/DC doesn’t it? Well, instead of going all rock critic on you, let’s just go with this: Head Job does NOT sounds like AC/DC. Trust me.
The music ranges from the rocking “Lost in America” and “Head Job” to the bouncy and almost silly sounding “Crazy.” “Bad Move” is about as heavy as this one gets and may be the best in-yer-face rock song on the album. This is not only an interesting track, it could have been a premonition to Rudd of future days! Or is it future daze? Either way, he should have listened to his own warning in the chorus.
“No Right” is Rudd does Reggae… it is about as you would expect that description to be. “Forty Days” sounds like a mix between Motorhead and something by The Brain Surgeons (a NYC band featuring ex-drummer of Blue Oyster Cult Albert Bouchard). “Repo Man” sounds like something Lemmy would have loved… in fact it has a very Angus and Malcolm style riff mixed with Motorhead style vocals. The entire album has a punky, rebellious feel to it. It sounds like a guy who has slipped over the edge but does not yet realize it.
Is this in the same league as Back in Black? Are you kidding me? Hell no, but that is one of the best rock albums ever created. Is this a fun, back-to-basics ‘rock music made more interesting because of who is in the band’ and what went on in his life? To be honest… probably so. Still, it has moments of sheer fun and you could spend your money on worse.
Rudd is back… let’s hope he is okay.
Head Job is not as good as an actual head job... but what album is? For a three-chord rocker from an iconic drummer it is just what it should be. Rudd is the Ringo Starr of hard rock. He does nothing flashy on stage (apparently he saves his flash for offstage). He does nothing technically demanding either. Yet he does what he does… perfectly.
File this one under: Worth checking out.
Track Listing:
Head Job
Sun Goes Down
Lonely Child
Lost In America
Crazy
Bad Move
No Right
The Other Side
Forty Days
Repo Man
When I Get My Hands On You
By Jeb “What a review” Wright
