CD Review: Mike Ness "Cheating at Solitaire"

"I used to roam all night long
I lurked the streets late at night
I ain't never comin' home
But loneliness
Is part of the game
And misery loves company"


Mike Ness may very well be seen as the progenitor of the psychobilly / cowpunk movement; a mutated strain of cowboy twang, power punk diesel and screaming rock and roll but you would have to wonder if that was accurate. With his tattoo-sleeved arms, jet black greased back mane and wife beater T-shirt, Ness has been the gravelly voiced, heavy handed, guitar-wielding front man for punk rock mainstay, Social Distortion, since 1979. In the twenty years at the helm of Social D, Ness not only played and sang about the rock and roll punk life, he played out his songs in real time.

In April 1999, Ness released his first solo effort on Time Bomb Records: Cheating At Solitaire. If you're a Social Distortion fan and expect that same "Somewhere between Heaven and Hell" treatment, you may find yourself a knocked back a little by this CD. Ness has never been one to hide his country influence in his work with Social D., but in this offering, he goes all out and offers the unsuspecting listener something he'll either love or hate. It's hard-edged roots flavored rock with some monster gut grinding guitar work.

Every track on the disc has something unique to offer from the opening "The Devil In Ms. Jones", a quasi love story sprinkled with ground glass to the 4 barreled, chromed out, glass pack infused tribute to L.A.'s car culture "I'm In Love With My Car" but the three covers included on the disc practically leap from the speakers. Ness's treatment of Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" is a screamer. A veritable rocker; something that you would imagine that Dylan would have done himself had he been born twenty years later and weaned on kerosene. Ness does Hank Williams proud with a respectful electrified version of "You Win Again", a major hit for country legend Williams, complete with a mournful steel guitar. He even throws in a Lefty Frizzell song, "Long Black Veil", which had been originally recorded in 1959 in Nashville.

Ness offers the complete package on this disc for the punk and rockabilly fan as well as for the country fan who may be interested in something a "little different". He reveals a certain maturity in his songwriting from his early days with Social D. and his guitar playing is still just as powerful, leaping easily back and forth between soulful and angst riddled to heart pounding, leg twitching jump rock and roll. His subject matter still appears to be very personal as evident on "Dope Fiend Blues" and "Charmed Life" and yet he can still write as an outsider, an interloper with a fat and heavy guitar sound and a sharp eye.

Ness is respected not only on the L.A. punk scene but in American punk and rock music as well. Bruce Springsteen was once quoted in an interview that "Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell" was his favorite album in 1995 and that's no small praise. Springsteen provides guitar and vocals with Ness on "Misery Loves Company" and ex-Stray Cats front man and rockabilly icon Brian Setzer accompanies Ness with his now almost legendary Gretsch on "Crime Don't Pay". Johnny Cash had been slated to perform with Ness on "Ballad of a Lonely Man" but was, sadly, too ill to perform at the time of the recording.

So if you're in the mood for something a little different, grease up in a pompadour, drag out that leopard print jacket and drop this one on the CD player. Yee Haw.