In A Mellow Mood... With Zakk Wylde?!?
Things at BBG! have been fairly GnR recently. How is Adler’s back? Does Stradlin’s man cave have surround sound? Who is sexier: Slash or Phil Collen? Is “Pretty Tied Up” actually a post-feminist love song? So I wanted to dim the lights and just sit back and listen to the soothing Southern sounds of Zakk Wylde.
Wait? What? Wylde just released Book of Shadows II, a follow-up to the 1996 solo album of the same name, minus the digits. The first single, “Sleeping Dogs” (I’d listen to this with the video off!), gives you a sense of the headspace this project operates in:
Think shameless and unabashed retro music that recalls Skynyrd, the Allmans (more Gregg than Duane), and the less pharmaceutical musings of latter day down-home stylists like the Crowes. This isn’t the pretty young girl who took the place of Lee in Ozzy’s band. Nor is it Pride & Glory, even if that project is closest in sound to this one. It most certainly isn’t his divisive Black Label Society, all faux Sons of Anarchy posturing.
Thing is, I have liked all those iterations of Wylde’s career. He kept a bit of fun in Ozzy’s corporate caravan. Pride & Glory suggested Wylde’s true influences. And Black Label Society is good clean fun dressed up like a scruffy biker, topped with skulls. Some might call that a poseur in search of a “theme.” I tend to think of it as a performer who has varied tastes, and knows how to cater to his fans, whoever they might be at the time. Wylde also strikes me as someone who truly enjoys making music, who appreciates his fans and the opportunities he has been given, and has worked hard to carve out a career and cancel out his demons while doing so. It is hard for me not to root for an artist like that.
Book of Shadows II is, to my ear, his most consistent offering to date. It doesn’t plead to be heard. It doesn’t sound rehearsed even as it settles into the well-worn grooves that came before. In fact, if there is a fault in said consistency, it is this: it floats along in the same key and forces you to note the minor deviations. I’m fine with that. This is to Southern Rock what Dazed and Confused was to movie making. And that is “alright, alright, alright” with me.
Another highlight: you can still get the CD, and a (stupid looking) limited-edition poster, for less than $10.