#8: Slash - Slash

Ghost
Crucify The Dead
Beautiful Dangerous
Back From Cali
Promise
By The Sword
Gotten
Doctor Alibi
Watch This
I Hold On
Nothing To Say
Starlight
Saint Is A Sinner Too
We're All Gonna Die

Slash - guitar
Chris Chaney - bass (except on 'Watch This')
Josh Freese - drums (except on 'Watch This' and 'Starlight')
Lenny Castro - percussion (except on 'Ghost', 'Doctor Alibi', 'Watch This', 'Nothing To Say', 'Starlight' and 'Saint Is A Sinner Too'
Ian Astbury - vocals and percussion on 'Ghost'
Izzy Stradlin - guitar on 'Ghost'
Ozzy Osbourne - vocals on 'Crucify The Dead'
Taylor Hawkins - backing vocals on 'Crucify The Dead'
Kevin Churko - backing vocals on 'Crucify The Dead'
Fergie - vocals on 'Beautiful Dangerous'
Myles Kennedy - vocals on 'Back From Cali' and 'Starlight'
Steve Ferrone - drums on 'Starlight'
Chris Cornell - vocals on 'Promise'
Andrew Stockdale - vocals on 'By The Sword'
Adam Levine - vocals on 'Gotten'
Lemmy Kilmister - vocals and bass on 'Doctor Alibi'
Dave Grohl - drums on 'Watch This'
Duff McKagan - bass on 'Watch This'
Kid Rock - vocals on 'I Hold On'
M. Shadows - vocals on 'Nothing To Say'
Rocco DeLuca - vocals on 'Saint Is A Sinner Too'
Iggy Pop - vocals on 'We're All Gonna Die'
Produced by Eric Valentine, Kid Rock and Big Chris Flores

If you'd asked me in 2009 if Slash was going to release one of the best rock albums in recent memory, I would have told you that there wasn't a chance. I believed his best days to be far behind him, with Velvet Revolver's 'Contraband' being the last glimpse of how great he can be when he believes in what he's doing (which itself was the first time he'd shown that ability since leaving Guns N' Roses earlier). Since then, a series of moves made by him, as well as his lacklustre performance on Velvet Revolver's 'Libertad' had me convinced that his career from then on was to be a series of cynical cash-in's and virtual retreads of his past material.
Then in the first half of 2010, Slash released his first true solo album, and blew me away once again. Going the Carlos Santana route of writing songs for a series of guest vocalists to add their own lyrics and melodies to, 'Slash' turns out to be a surprisingly eclectic album, taking in punk, thrash metal, and even Spanish guitar as well as Slash's trademark bluesy guitar swagger. The guest vocalists range from the obvious old school legends (Lemmy, Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop), to the best voices in rock n' roll today (M. Shadows, Andrew Stockdale), to the downright bizarre (Maroon 5's Adam Levine, Fergie of the Black-Eyed Peas).
Surprisingly, it's the track with Fergie - 'Beautiful Dangerous' - that stands out as the best song on the album. She might not show it in her day job, but this girl can really rock given the right incentive. Other highlights include (but are not limited to) 'By The Sword' featuring Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother, and the instrumental 'Watch This' featuring Duff McKagan on bass and Dave Grohl on drums (this has the makings of another great supergroup!)
The only real disappointments are the tracks sang by Alter Bridge's Myles Kennedy. Myles can be a fantastic singer when he keeps to his natural baritone voice, but as soon as he begins stretching his voice to near-castrato levels, which is what he does to excess during both of the songs he's featured on here, he just sounds awful. Like Axl Rose circa 2002, in fact. That said, Myles has proven to be perfectly capable singing the other songs on the record in a live setting in the last years of touring, and will be the sole vocalist on next year's follow-up. Hopefully he'll be singing more like he does with Alter Bridge on that one.
Ultimately, though, Slash has proven that he still has some great riffs hidden in that top hat of his, and his credibility has been restored. Hopefully that'll last for a while....


Oh... back to the drawing board, then, eh?

Listen Here: Slash – Slash