Like before him, is a superstar guitarist who can't sing a lick -- a situation that poses a considerable problem when it comes time to record a solo album, which apparently is whenever his band collapses under the preening ego of a lead singer. When combing through the wreckage of he decided to form a band whose singer almost seemed like an afterthought, but he took a different route after the meltdown of , choosing to follow 's blueprint, hauling in a different singer for each track. Of course, was designed with the intention of having cross over to a new audience, but , with the exception of howling was made with his old fans in mind, bringing in gnarled old rockers like , , and to carry the brunt of the work, slipping in a few new faces -- like of (the first signing to 's label), and , chosen to front 's supporting tour for the record -- along the way. It's a comfortable and familiar fit that poses only one significant problem: nobody bothered to write any songs; they're just playing for the sake of playing. Ironically, the exceptions to the rule are , who winds up pushing in an interesting hooky direction, and the instrumental jam between the guitarist, his / bandmate , a track that has more forward movement and momentum than the rest of the record combined, suggesting that perhaps should follow 's lead and cut an all-instrumental record instead of biding his time creating cozy sleaze with old friends. [A Deluxe Edition of the album, featuring a second disc of bonus tracks and a DVD, was released in 2010.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine