Search - Bret Michaels :: Custom Built

Honestly...

Tommy Morais | New Brunswick, Canada | 07/10/2010

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Bret Michaels seems to be everywhere lately. The Poison front man and solo artist has done 3 seasons of Rock of Love for television, appeared on The Apprentice and a few other tv shows, received publicity for the song "Nothing To Lose" which featured Miley Cyrus and was in the hospital not too long ago. But to be honest I was always more of a fan of the music he did with and outside of Poison than I am of his newfound celebrity status. I liked the material Bret released with Poison, especially the first few albums, and to some extend his solo career. Custom Built is Bret`s fifth studio solo album, sixth if you count 2008`s Rock My World which had only 3 new songs and was mostly a greatest hits of his solo career up to that point and a promotional tool for his Rock of Love series.



I think the material here is supposed to appeal to fans of the Rock of Love series or just Bret Michaels who don`t know anything about his past music. A duet with Miley Cyrus was sure to bring Bret some attention on radio and bring him new fans who weren`t familiar with him. I don`t mean the material on the album is bad but this is almost the same thing Rock My World was, old songs with a few new thrown in and remixes. There are 12 songs on Custom Built of which 7 are new songs, there are two bonus songs included with the digital download only (other versions of new songs Lie To Me and Wasted Time). Out of those seven songs there`s the song for his new tv show Riding Against The Wind (which is a very good song, I`ll give him that) Nothing To Lose with Miley Cyrus (which depending how you view it might be good or absolute trash) plus a solo version of the same song. There`s also a cover song "What I Got", another version of Every Rose Has It`s Thorn (I don`t like this version, I thought it was such a personal song that including all those musicians kind of ruined it for me in the end) and two new songs Lie To Me and Wasted Time which are good. Bret stays with the country-rock formula that he has stuck with his entire solo career, for the most part it`s a pleasant sound and it works for him.



So here`s a summary of what Bret did on Custom Built:



-Two new mixes of Driven (that song has been on Freedom of Sound, Rock My World, Acoustic sessions and now on Custom Built) and Go That Far. The mixes are not bad but the songs are not new.



-Two versions of a new song Nothing To Lose.



-His new television show`s theme song.



-Two other new songs (total of five "brand new" songs)



-A new version of Every Rose Has It`s Thorn with other artists.



-A cover song.



-Two Songs from "Freedom of Sound".



-One song from "A Letter From Death Row".



Correct me if I`m wrong but there doesn`t seem to be a whole lot of new on Custom Built. What`s on the album is definitely not bad but I`d prefer all-new material especially considering how Rock My World had only three new songs. If you just want the new songs go ahead but otherwise you will probably be deceved.I think the two new mixes are not bad, but rather unnecessary. Plus doing a new version of Every Rose Has Its Thorn seems useless as well if it`s not going to be that great. I don`t think Michaels will really impress anyone here but his new material is true to himself which is not a bad thing. As much as I love Bret as a musicians I`d recommend this to casual fans and collectors only. I can`t give this more than two stars unfortunately.



"

I like Brett

jojo | 07/13/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I'm a new fan of Brett Micheals. I didn't even know who he was until I saw him on the apprentis. I bought this cd because I wanted to hear his music. I have to say I like this album. It's different from I usually listen to. Change is always good."

AMAZING!!!

Randi L. Collins | New York | 07/07/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I bought this cd at a store near where I live. I'm the type of person who always says "I hope it doesn't suck. I hope it doesn't suck." to myself. I can official tell you (the reader and buyer) that this cd does not suck. It is amazing...creative...his music is totally different then the artists that you hear in today's music. And most of all...it's fun to listen to!!



I love Bret Michaels's voice!!"