Heroin Diaries Soundtrack
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CD Details
Brand: SIXX:A.M.Performer: Sixx: A.M.
Edition: Music CD
Format: Soundtrack
CD Release Date: 2007-08-21
Music Label: Eleven Seven Music
Soundtracks:
- X-Mas in Hell
- Van Nuys
- Life Is Beautiful
- Pray for Me
- Tomorrow
- Accidents Can Happen
- Intermission
- Dead Man's Ballet
- Heart Failure
- Girl with Golden Eyes
- Courtesy Call
- Permission
- Life After Death
Music reviews of Heroin Diaries Soundtrack
Music Review: Blown Away!
Rating: 5 Stars
The latest offering from Nikki Sixx's penchant for doing small solo projects is a testament to not only his talent as a songwriter, but also his range as a musician. That's not to discount the efforts of guitarist DJ Ashba and singer James Michael (who also mixed the songs). Nikki has stated explicitly in interviews that this CD was a collaborative effort, and the three men together have put together a great album. The disc, which is unique for being the first soundtrack for a book I have ever heard of, touts 13 innovative and wonderfully arranged and performed tracks.
The first, seventh and last tracks are spoken entries from what we can assume will be from the book (with accompanying instrumentals). Judging from the scanned pages included as a CD extra (put this thing in your computer, people!), "X-Mas in Hell" has been worded slightly differently to make it more sensical out of the book's context. Its accompanying rock rendition of "Carol of the Bells" is appropriate and well done. "Intermission" with its accompanying music seems somewhat inspired by circus music (and vaguely reminds of Motley Crue's recent Carnival of Sins tour, but maybe that's just me). "Life After Death," wraps up the overall message (drugs can ruin you, but there is always a chance for redemption if you survive) nicely.
Many of the other songs have this element of spoken word as well. Nikki doesn't sing, so getting to hear his voice is always like a bonus for me, and he's all over this CD. We hear him to some degree on just about every track, either at the beginning, like with the previously mentioned tracks, or at the end, like in "Girl With Golden Eyes," where he reads through the first ten days of his detox with increasing fervor (fantastically, I might add). Previous to this, my only option for Nikki audio sources was in "El Paso" on his 58, Diet for a New America CD (which I also recommend).
I sampled each of the tracks here on Amazon weeks before I got my hands on the CD, and I have to say each sample does absolutely no justice to the full song, which play in order magnificently. They truly feel like you could be listening to them in the background while reading the book: like a movie score. "Courtesy Call" in particular, with it's haunting steady beat, feels like it should be playing on a loop as I read whatever section of the book it is presumably inspired by (and when I find it, I'll do just that).
On the whole, all of the songs seem to be not only themed after parts of the book, but also each set a unique mood or present a particular complicated emotion: "Tomorrow" is forwarning; "Accidents Can Happen" is consoling; "Heart Failure" is ominous; "Girl with Golden Eyes" is solemn.
The CD is all over the place in terms of style and energy as well. Not only between songs, but also within them. "Van Nuys" starts out awkwardly, but kicks into something that feels completely different: forshadowing, in a way, to the trainwreck we are about to be witness to. "Dead Man's Ballet" and "Permission" (which begins like a country ballad) had this almost gospel feel to them in the chorus parts, particularly towards the ends. I could seriously picture an all-male gospel chorus in the background, and can only hope to see one if these guys ever decided to take this thing on the road (something we can probably only dream of).
The lyrics seem almost too blunt at times (the furthest metaphor is "girl with golden eyes" easily substituted for heroin), a fact that often puts me off on music (and a point which might be why the samples do no justice to the songs), but they work fabulously here. What of the Diaries I have read now, it is just as blunt, and Nikki himself is just as blunt. They are utterly appropriate and complete the feel of the CD when listened to as a whole.
The singles are also well-chosen. "Life Is Beautiful" has actually gotten serious radio airplay (here, at least), and with good reason! The song is moving, powerful, and most importantly for a single's success, catchy. I haven't heard a new Motley song on the radio in years (and incidentally, you don't need to even be a Motley Crue fan to enjoy this CD). You get the old hits, sure, but the new stuff is always ignored. It might be because people regard them as an "old band that's had all the hits they're ever going to have, so why bother considering anything new," but it might more reasonably be because their style lacks the kind of edge and range that is in vogue now ("hair metal" out; "nu metal" in). Of course, when they've tried to challenge that assumption, they've been railed against by their base as straying too far from who they are, so they're kind of stuck. Nikki Sixx learned that lesson hard with the '94 album (without Vince) and has avoided doing his edgier work within the confines of the band ever since. Nikki's former project (before Brides of Destruction), 58, with its fantastically dark, funny, funky style, is the closest to this we've seen from him, though that project didn't have enough radio appeal to make it a hit. At this point, with this CD, I wouldn't be surprised if the other single, "Pray For Me" were heard around.
In all, I'd say if you like Motley Crue, particularly Nikki Sixx (and any of his other side projects), you're going to like this CD. If you like the single, "Life is Beautiful," you'll probably like a lot of the other songs on this disc, even though that song is the only one of its kind (high energy/power song; perfect for a radio single). There's something here for every taste (unless you hate rock music) and, though the language and subject matter can get heavy, the message is a noble one (drug'll kill ya; life is good).
The CD comes with extras: the music video for "Life Is Beautiful" and a "sneak peek" of the book, and this isn't any snippet either; for your money you not only get 13 fantastic tracks and a music video, you also get 32 full (color) pages scanned from the book. I'd say money well spent.
Description of Heroin Diaries Soundtrack
Upcoming national television appearances with Jimmy Kimmel, Craig Ferguson, Carson Daly, Conan O?Brien, & more. Other upcoming national television appearances include Heroin Diaries Headbangers Ball Special (premiering week of soundtrack street date), and Vh1 Storytellers- Breaking an Addiction (hosted by Nikki Sixx). Album reviews/interviews/features to hit with street date in major publications like Spin, Rollingstone, Billboard, Blender, & more. BWR is handling publicity for the Heroin Diaries Soundtrack.The Heroin Diaries (the soundtrack to Nikki Sixx's addiction memoir of the same name) sounds nothing like the music that catapulted Nikki Sixx into the limelight (and, presumably, the dank and dark underground of addiction) with Mötley Crüe more than 20 years ago. And the music suffers for it. Perhaps Sixx didn't want to romanticize addiction and ill behavior by unleashing a series of rockers that would send fists high in the air and let the spirit, at least for a moment, soar while the listener struggled to better understand the seductive lure of dependence and decadence. (If anyone cares that much--this is rock & roll, after all, and not Oprah.) Instead, Sixx dresses the songs in the trappings of contemporary pop so that "Tomorrow," "Life is Beautiful" and "Accidents Can Happen" sound like lite imitations of the lesser bands that have captured the public's imagination in the wake of the Crüe's inexplicable absence from the recording studio. ("Permission" may even be Sixx's first stab at getting airplay on CMT.) The true rockers, far too slender in number, are half-realized and pallid; the lyrics are overly diaristic (yes) and fail to live up to Sixx's vintage street sophistication ("Dancing on Glass" and "Kickstart My Heart"). The Heroin Diaries comes off more like an affectless pity party than a walk on the wild side. --Jedd Beaudoin
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