Silver Ginger Five, Black Leather Mojo (2000-Mercury Japan)
Made by the Wildhearts front man Ginger in 1999 and on a
Japan label the album was intended to be his first solo album. He had worked
with others just before this project like Alex Kane on the Stop Thinking album
and the Supershit 666 superband. But this was all cards on the table, only he
could make it work or not.
Well it is a funny one as I think he did do something with
the album and that was to headline a large venue in London without even having
the album out in the UK. It was a Japan only album for quite a while so any fans
who wanted it had to pay quite a bit for a Japan import.
The album opens with what I would say is a solid first track
“Sonic Shake” has all the ingredients you need for an air guitar fuelled three
minutes. Big loud riffs that sound bigger as it gets louder, the drums are
tight and the quality is here. The production is spot on and is need to hear
all that is going on.
Second track “Divine Imperfection” Continues the riffs,
simple and fun. The song has such a great sing a long feel to it, helped with
the harmonies and great lyrics. “Anyway but Maybe” comes crashing out of the
speakers like a roller coaster that is coming off its rails. Big drum fills and
bass that can easily take the roof off. Remember that production? Here it is,
after that nice big build up you get Gingers vocals. Great lyrics and all the
things needs for me it is a stand out track.
A little bit of a change in pace “Girls are better than Boys”
and “Brain Sugar” help provide more of the glam rock n roll that we all love.
The two songs are very infectious and are nowhere near a filler track. The latter track takes you back to sing along
with even more great lyrics.
Again a little change in “Monkey Zoo” it is an all out hard
rock song with that has touches of alt rock but still keeps the melodic sound
of the album. The track has big keyboards to help give an orchestra sound to
it. It is a slow song but never loses any attention.
“Inside Out” is a nice little acoustic number, catchy and
melodic it is a nice campfire sing a long number. The track sounds pretty much a throw away song
but after a few listens it is a firm favourite.
It is one of those tracks that could be a big hit on the radio, say if
it was on a film or TV show. Nice wee guitar solo here keeps the hands waving.
An all out rocker in “I Wanna be New” nothing fancy but loud
rock music and a nice track to lead into one of Gingers oldest songs. Written
for a Wildhearts album it has never seen the light till this album. “Church of
the Broken Hearted” could make a Bon Jovi fan shed a tear. But add in the the
big church Choir he is going for it in a big way. It is a good song and played
very well great soloing that would make Slash gulp.
Overall this is a fantastic album and a real mix of rock music styles. With the music business in 2000 being much about Nu Metal bands many rock bands were pretty much not getting a look in. Same with this album it was not picked up by a UK label and even when it did come out it was on a small independent with no promotion.
I think if this was given a good shot by the right record company there is no reason why it could not have done so much more. It had all the things needed for a classic rock album and easily provided all rock fans something to enjoy. I saw the band live once and it was a real treat. A second album was written but shelved due to lack of interest.
Black Leather Mojo is easily available but try get the 2CD copy as it has extra demo tracks from the missing second album.
