Kid Rock [PA] by Kid Rock

Love him, hate him, loathe him, there are few personalities in the current rock scene who draw the type of fiery reaction at the mere mention of a name than Kid Rock.

Bursting out of Detroit in 1998 (after years of obscurity) with his Devil Without a Cause disc that featured 5 hits (Bawitdaba, I Am the Bullgod, Cowboy,Only God Knows Why and Wasting Time), Rock instantly became one of the poster boys for the rap-rock phenomenon.

But things began to turn sour for the Kid in 2001, when his Cocky album went bottoms up on the Billboard 200 chart just mere weeks after its release. To his credit, Rock urged and begged his record company to release his duet with Sheryl Crow, Picture as a single. They finally complied, and the song singlehandedly sold 3 million of the 4 million units that Cocky would move.

So with Picture still somewhat fresh in the minds of record buyers everywhere, Rock looked to capture them with his latest record, released earlier this month and titled simply Kid Rock. Even moreso than Cocky, this self-titled effort shows Rock showing off his biggest influences, while also collaborating with them as well.

The first single, a cover of Bad Company's Feel Like Makin' Love, is decent enough, although ultimately, Rock's voice lacks the power to make the song stand out as anything more than a song you leave on if you come across it on the radio. Not that I'm a big fan of Bad Company or anything, but their singer, Paul Rodgers, had a great voice. Rock's voice is merely a shadow of Rodgers'.

Rock finds better success on the opening Rock N Roll Pain Train, which finds him doing his best beer soaked Picture voice imitation. More than anything, I really like the bluesy licks that lead guitarist Kenny Olson doles out.

Speaking of bluesy licks, Kenny Wayne Shepherd shows up to lend some soulful guitar licks of his own on Black Bob, a song that wouldn't stand out at all if not for Mr Shepherd. The lyrics tackle a subject Rock's tackled before on previous albums (namely, his race and the hip hop community), and while what Shepherd does is nice, it would've been nice to hear him shred on a harder rocking number.

The disc's two best songs come one right after the other. Jackson, Mississippi is a mix of Stone Temple Pilots riffage and blues atmosphere. It's one of the better hard rock songs of the year, propelled by Rock's backing band (The Twisted Brown Trucker Band), and this is one of the rare times that Rock's swagger doesn't get in his own way.

This is followed by the all too familiar "too much touring" song, Cold and Empty. On this track, Rock shows that he can write a solid song lyrically when he puts his mind to it, even if the subject matter has been done over and over again, not to mention done better by other bands.

But as I said above, this is an album of influences, some that work, and some that don't. If you listen closely, you'll be able to hear the Deep Purple influence on the intro to Rock N' Roll, which isn't exactly a classic in the vein of the Zeppelin song of the same name, but it's an enjoyable enough mid tempo rock song. ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons lends his voice to the track dubbed Hillbilly Stomp. It's hard to come up with adjectives that would do this song justice. I mean, this thing is bad, probably worse than ANYTHING to be found on Cocky. It's one of the few times on the record Rock does his fading rap schtick, and I wish he had left it at home. He then goes on to basically list his influences on Son of Detroit, which is kind of fun to sing along to if nothing else.

Another embarrassing moment comes with the help of Hank Williams Jr, an artist who Rock has not been shy about expressing his love for. Cadillac P*ssy is ok at best musically, featuring a bit of 50s rock and soul to it, but it has possibly the worst double entendre ever ("she had some cadillac p*ssy, man it would drive you wild") to be found in a rock and roll song.

Luckily, this is made up for with the pretty ballad Hard Night For Sarah, a song about divorce and the pain that comes with it. While simple lyrically and musically, the song actually works better for it.

Kid Rock is a lot of things, but he's not untalented. That being said, he's yet to produce an album as out and out fun to listen to as Devil Without a Cause (as mindless as the album was), and his attempts at depth on both this album and Cocky fall short of being Dylan-esque, to say the least.

However, this is a big step in the right direction for Rock. While another pure rocker or two would've been nice, it seems Rock is aiming to be this generation's Bob Seger. If he loses the cocky attitude that permeates (and by extension, ruins) too many of his songs, he may just live up to that aim some day. In the meantime, he's bearable, even decent or great at times, but nothing more.

2.5 stars, rounded up to 3