Mike Ness

Cheating at Solitaire (Time Bomb)
by Jon Sarre

I gotta start off by mentioning that I’ve never really cared for Mike Ness‘ mainline warhorse, Social Distortion. Yeah, they’re alright, especially early on, and sure, I’ve never switched the station when I’ve heard “Bad Luck,” or whatever it’s called, on the radio. Hell, if anything, I turn it up, cuz, well, it’s the radio, and there’s slim pickings. Ness’ revolving door bands are always solid, but ya never really get the feeling that there would be a Social Distortion (after 1988 or so, anyway) if Mike wasn’t paying ’em or something.

As for Mike Ness himself, he’s the heart and soul of Social Distortion (and, as a quick side jibe, isn’t every SD record really a solo album cuz everyone with the exception of Ness is essentially a session player who does what he’s told?), but he’s not really a very adept songwriter (an arranger, yup, but songwriter?). His lyrical ability, especially, is no great shakes. Typically, he recycles the same bag of white trash rock’n’cliches, “you can run, but you can’t hide,” “misery loves company,” “my poor heart is achin’.” Each Social Distortion record is like deja vu, so don’t be surprised if Cheating At Solitaire feels familiar.

Alla that aside, this record is as solid as Mike Ness is gonna get (if ya ignore the words): pounding drum beats, lazy-to-furious slide guitar, impeccable production and the man’s scratchy vocal chordage. It’s great pseudo-cowbilly shit, okay? Check out the blue color working class zero summit with none other than Bruce fuckin’ Springsteen (“Misery Loves Company”) or dig Ness free verse rappin’ over this hipster trash sax (provided by one of the guys in the Royal Crown Revue, I understand) with Brian Setzer doin’ guitar pickin’ (“Crime Don’t Pay”). Ness stumbles a bit when he tries to make the sensitive guy thing fly like on the so-so alt-country-flavored (blandly, of course) “Rest of Our Lives,” or on the mandolin and steel guitar “If You Leave This World.” His cover of Hank Williams’ “You Win Again” can’t hold a candle to Jerry Lee Lewis’, but Ness’ take on Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice” is a credit to his arrangement skills. Better still is “Long Black Veil,” the only song I can think of sung from the point of view of a corpse and more importantly, a true country classic made so by Johnny Cash and Lefty Frizzell. To cut that song and not suck, well, that’s an achievement.
(31652 2nd Ave. Laguna Beach, CA 92677)