Keith Richards- Crosseyed Heart (2015)

Keith Richards- Crosseyed Heart (2015)

“If you're going to kick authority in the teeth, you might as well use both feet.”

Keith Richards

By: Ghost Writer

I really don't know how he does it, but for his new solo record Crosseyed Heart, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards sounds amazingly revitalized, man, rock n roll has no age, and as a joke tell us, we should start to worry about the kind of world we all will leave Keith Richards because he, like cockroaches, will remain here once we all be fine from the Earth.

Now Crosseyed Heaet remind me of those inspiring rock n roll records people like Lou Reed or Iggy Pop were doing in the 90s, getting their stuff together and getting ready to re-launch their careers, opener Cross Eyed Heart shows that Richards heart is still firmly planted in blues like at the start of his musical career, is a meaningful intro and a great indicator of where Keith is aiming still, but is on Heartstopper where or jaws start to drop as the man take us on a upbeat and intimate trip though some of his best music of his solo career and an indicator that Keith belongs to our times, not to the past, the man sounds even more vital than rockers who could be his grandsons, keeping his very personal style of guitar riffing all through the theme.

Keith Richards is far from having amnesia as he is still very aware of what makes a great rock n roll song as he shows in Amnesia, where he shows why he is still a master of the riff, and leaving it clear to all of us that if the Stones sound stagnated is not because of him, and this without a doubt will leave us waiting impatiently for the return of the Stones to the studio next year.

Trouble is a great rocker with desperate guitar lines and hungry bluesy solos that showcase Richards omnipresent vitality, but Love Overdue with brings to the table Richards infatuation with reggae is not exactly stellar, and from then on the records loses a bit of energy with low keyed themes like Nothing on Me with its open tones and Suspicious with is take on Leonard Cohen confessional and gargantuan waltzes.

But the great thing about Keith is that he is always open to some freewheeling chaos as in Blues in the Morning, a powerful theme with amazing lead guitars and urgent bass lines, before arriving to the ultra-catchy Something for Nothing which kind if remind me of Mixed Emotions one of the last great Stones songs.

Crosseyed Heart closes with two awesome songs, one is a battered up version of the classic Goodnight Irene, a song of very special meaning to me, with Richards taking the song and unveiling a very emotional take on it, demonstrating that Richards still has that power to startle and to uncover his soul, showing that no matter how much roads he has walked he is human after all, and then Richards get really wild in the crazy hot funk of Substantial Damage that makes me thing seriously of the type of stuff the Stones should be doing these days, Crosseyed Heart is a sure winner and it lives up perfectly to the monumental reputation of its creator.