As the world waited with bated breath for Axl Rose to unleash
Chinese Democracy in 2008,
Izzy Stradlin quietly slipped out
Concrete, his fourth download-only release and his ninth album since Use Your Illusion, the last time
Guns N' Roses released original material.
Izzy left
GNR because he didn't like the spotlight but surely the inactivity would have eventually driven him crazy, too, as he wanted nothing more than to be a working rock & roller, working according to his own schedule, recording simply whenever he wanted. There's a lot of merit to
Stradlin's methods -- he's every bit the recluse as Axl, but he can actually bring a project to conclusion -- although listening to
Concrete is a little frustrating given its self-conscious limitations.
Stradlin's old-fashioned rock & roll -- not so much proud as simply matter of fact -- isn't a limitation but the very casualness of
Concrete is, as the tunes can feel tossed-off and the production is thin and gray, needing a bit of grit or wallop that it never gets. Even if
Concrete winds up too modest for its own good, its modesty is charming, especially when he's revving up a messy rocker like "Knuckleheads" or laying into an easy acoustic groove on "I Know," effortlessly evoking the ghost of
Ronnie Lane. These are reminiscent of what
Izzy did best in the heydays of
Guns N' Roses, and while
Concrete as a whole is a little uneven, it's nice to know that he still has it in him to create songs as humbly terrific as this. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine