Album Review: Bret Michaels' Rock My World

Let me start off by saying that I really wish I could have hated every single track on this cd, unfortunately there were a couple listenable ones so I suppose I didn't entirely waste 39 minutes of my life. Bret Michaels' latest offering comes to us in the form of his new album, "Rock My World", for the most part the album is exactly what you think it would be: a past his prime 80's rocker's idea of what might be new and relevant. I don't think I would have heard of the album had it not been for Bret Michael's recent foray into reality television with Rock of Love. And yes, I'll admit to watching it, there's nothing funnier than watching 30 strippers compete for the attention of a vain has been rocker. I'm still hoping that vh1 will come out with a show that has Bret Michaels and Vince Niel roaming the streets of Hollywood Blvd. trying to convince people that they're not twin brothers.

"Rock My World" starts of with two bad songs in a row, "Go That Far" and "Driven" are both terrible cliche and uninspired. The lyrics mention sunset boulevard and wild times, totally ignoring the fact that almost no one cares how much Bret partied 20 years ago. Thankfully both of those songs are right around 3 minutes long so the pain didn't last too long. Next up is a typical slowing down in pace with the songs "Fallen" and "Raine". I was taken off guard when listening to "Fallen" and "Raine", both songs weren't too bad. I'd almost go as far as saying that "Fallen" might be worth buying on itunes. Bret Michaels hasn't lost his knack for writing slow, meaningful songs that he had when he wrote "Every Rose Has It's Thorn". "Raine" is almost an odd combination of The Verve Pipe and Poison, oddly enough this seems to work.

The next few songs aren't really worth mentioning, you won't be missing anything by skipping tracks 5-8. I was beginning to think that the rest of the album would be terribly boring and then my ears pricked up when I heard "All I Ever Needed". "All I Ever Needed" has a slow country vibe to it that it's complimented by the addition of Jessica Andrews' vocals.

As for the rest of the album, the only other noteworthy track is "Right Now, Right Here", which might be the only rock song on the album worth listening to. So to tally it all up, I'm gonna have to give this one a 4. Guitar solos and distortion don't always make a good rock album and I think Bret should stick with the mellower music styles that he seems to show aptitude for.