Duff McKAGAN'S LOADED: "Sick" (Re-issue)

Rating: Re-issue CD/DVD

Label: Eagle/Armoury 2011

Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom

"Sick" with Duff McKagan's Loaded, Re-loaded and re-released by Armoury Records as a two-disc set and it's been nicely re-packaged with two bonus tracks and the approx 92 minutes long DVD. Obviously the third studio album by Loaded, originally released in 2009 and the former Guns N' Roses and current Velvet Revolver bassist: Duff (Homer Simpson's favourite beverage), responsible for lead vocals, rhythm guitar and most of the songwriting. It was their first album since reforming after they went on hiatus in 2002 and you'll definitely notice the band's influences of Rolling Stones, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, and yeah, The Ramones.

This special edition include as already mentioned a bonus DVD of Loaded's show at The Garage in Glasgow, Scotland, 2008 (11 songs), a promotional music video of "No More" and all five of the band's Webisodes, including the UK Tour Webisode. Martien reviewed it for RockUnited.com back in 2009 and thought, and I quote, "that the choruses are repeated too often and a lot of songs are rather "radiofriendly", end quote. I do not have any problem with 'radiofriendly', and tracks like "Mother's Day", "Blind Date Girl", "Wasted Heart", are actually all (very much) done in the tradition of Rolling Stones, Lou Reed and the seventies groove. Bonustracks are the acoustic version of "Wasted Heart", and "Roll Away", verse and some guitar parts of the latter are similar to Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven", the chorus on the other hand, commerical rock of today.

Duff, probably not the best lead vocalist out there, it's just a part of the charm, I guess??? You know, the blue notes performances on tracks such as "Mother's Day" (a forgotten mid-June gr'aaaa'y). But seriously, it's punk-rock, who gives a damn??? Sick is like a kick to the head...

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