Search - Joe Perry :: Once a Rocker Always a Rocker

The Project's Last Experiment...

Sean Parauka | Orange, CT United States | 02/26/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This final release of "The Joe Perry Project" is the band's second-best effort. After the first album achieved Gold status and then the second album achieved less than Gold, Joe Perry completed reformed the whole project and recruited three new band members: Cowboy Mach Bell (vocals), Joe Pet (Drums) and Danny Hargrove (Bass). With this new line-up and the determination to climb back up to stardom with his band. Unfortunately, this album sold the least of the three albums and after the tour for this album, it was apparent that the Project was over.



One of the highlights of this album are Mach Bell's vocals. His voice sounds very similar to the early days of Motley Crue's Vince Neil on many occassions throughout the album. Going to the songs, there are about four songs out the ten that are absolute classics.



The opening title track, "Once A Rocker, Always A Rocker" is a short (just under 3 minutes) rock and roller. The lyrics are well written and Joe's guitar riffs are very bluesy and R&B based. The chorus is also semi-catchy. The next track, the album's best is, "Black Velvet Pants." The intro to this song is outstanding with Joe's guitar solo. The overall sound of this song leans mainly towards Country-Rock with powerful lyrics and a great riffs while the song moves at a country-western style pace. The story behind the music video for this song is that the model for video was Billy Montgomery, Joe Perry's wife-to-be a couple years later and who is still married to today. The next track, "Women In Chains" is an excellent song. The intro is the sound of rattling chains. Some of Bell's greatest vocals performances are resembled on this song. The lyrics are about how women are sometimes mistreated, unrespected or ignored. This is slow rocker and is a semi-ballad. This song is a high point of the album. Jumping to track nine, "Walk With Me Sally" is the album's second highest point next to "Black Velvet Pants." The song moves at a very fast pace and is excellently performed. Throughout the song there is an instrumental break where Bell continues with the lyrics at a fast pace and then the band begins to speed back in to carry on with the chorus. This song resembles some of Joe's best riffs throughout the album.



Overall, the album is good in general and those four tracks mentioned in this review are the highpoints that make the album the most noticable. I think Bell's vocals were very good all around but he ranks just under 1980s "Let the Music Do the Talkin" lead vocalist Ralph Mormon. For those of you that are looking to finish your Joe Perry collection, buy this album and you will like it. This complete's the Project! The Joe Perry Project gets an A+ for the strong effort and determination."

I wasn't expecting much from this...

D. McKean | 10/02/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"...but it's actually pretty good. Joe Perry rocks on this album and the drummer is amazing. They're new singer "Cowboy" Mach Bell sounds a lot like Vince Neil of Motley Crue. A few of the songs are a little cheesy but the guitar and drumming makes up for it."