SKID ROW – Thickskin (2003 Skid Row Records)

Thickskin came out in 2003, a full 8 years since their last record.  They’d been through a lot, including firing their charismatic lead singer.  Sebastian Bach was one hell of a frontman with a voice to be envied.  In was Johnny Solinger, the little-known frontman of Texas band Solinger.  Could they gel as a band, and put out a decent record?

Yes, they could and did.

Solinger only has one writing credit on Thickskin, leaving the majority of the writing to Rachel Bolan and Snake Sabo  That pair wrote much of Skid Row’s older material anyway, and the sound does not stray far from classic Skid Row. Thickskin sounds like a natural followup to the excellent Subhuman Race, though less twisted and exploratory.  Where Solinger succeeds is in continuing to sing in the Skid Row style. He doesn’t stray too far from the blueprint, although his voice does not have the power of Bach’s.  He still throws in the shrieks in the right places, the roughness, the toughness, and the expressiveness.  If only he’d avoided those Nickelcrap-sounding moments on “Swallow Me”, but hey, he didn’t write the song.

Song-wise, we have an album here that comes pretty close to Subhuman Race in quality. There are those who prefer early Skid Row, when they were more hard rock and less dark heavy alterna-rock.  That’s fair — but be forewarned, this album won’t turn you around.  I find that very few weak songs blemish the album, and even the weak songs have pretty strong choruses.

My favourites include “Ghost” (killer chorus!), “Born A Beggar” (even better chrorus!), “Thick Is The Skin” (the sort of speedy metal that Skid Row did on Slave to the Grind), and “See You Around” (a sort-of ballad that reminds me of “I Remember You”).  Most controversial of all was “I Remember You Two”.  This remake is more a re-imagining of the hit ballad as a fast punk rocker.  And it works!  Try to listen to it as if you don’t even know the original song exists.  It’s fun if you can accept it.

Impressive also-rans include “One Light” (another ballad) and “Hittin’ A Wall” which is pure speed and aggression.  Solinger succeeds at pulling off both extremes.  He also pulls of the more grungy styled lead vocal on the opening verse of the title track, a Weiland-esque moment.  He’s versatile enough to do the job.

One complaint:  the lame-o cover art.  When Baz was in the band, his father David Bierk provided some pretty wild paintings.  This cover is lifeless, not even barely hinting at the rock and roll thunder within.

I have to give this album a solid:

4.25/5 stars

It’s the best of the Solinger era, and the song “Born A Beggar” still makes my road tapes 10 years later.