The Nightwatchman: One Man Revolution

Many fans of Tom Morello, the former guitarist for Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, were anticipating his solo folk release "the Nightwatchman: One Man Revolution," which was recently released on Epic records. Of course, these fans would blindly shell out twenty bucks for an acoustic album released by a major label. Allow me to provide the means for some perception...

First off, the album sucks-- folk genre aside. Excellent folk music is driven by melody, musical variation, and, if all else fails, poetic insight/ writing ability. Unfortunately none of these seize the album and, although Morello (excuse me, 'the Nightwatchman') is exceptionally talented, most of the music comes across flat. That is not to say that the enthusiasm isn't there, but Morello simply cannot make it click because "One Man Revolution" is pretentious and, for lack of a better term, soulless.

This lack of soul is hard to pinpoint; at times it would seem like Morello is just a hollow shell of a performer on this album, someone who has all the brains and talent, but more often he simply annoys. Yes, annoys. Although everyone by now should know enough to nod their heads along with the social injustices vocalized on "the Nightwatchman: One Man Revolution," it's difficult to take away from the all-too-explicit lyrics: "Colin Powell's lies"; "si se puede," etc., all sung in the same gravelly voice, in the same tone... and coming off a compact disc printed by the same douchebags that brought us [Epic artists] Creed, Jessica Simpson, and Good Charlotte.

Are fans embarrassed yet? Maybe a quick drive down Main street, blaring the hook "I'm a one man revolution" out of their cars' rolled-down windows will do the trick...

And speaking of "doing the trick," Morello, eh-hem, "the Nightwatchman" really "does the trick" when it comes to delivering cliches. If there's one machine worth raging against, it's the cliche press hard at work between the artist's ears. An excerpt from "No One Left," the eleventh track on "the Nightwatchman: One Man Revolution," goes just like this: "I stand out on my front porch/ I look up at the sky/ ...the world [goes] black/ in the blink of an eye."

Although the musical ability of Morello is displayed, arguably too seldom, the album isn't entirely bad. Rarely is an album worth EXACTLY one listen before being tossed aside. Sure Morello is a pompous has-been who spends every day attempting to connect with his vague ideas of hardcore music's past and 'the people,' but with enough work and maybe a poetry lesson he might someday put out a Nightwatchman album that's worth the plastic it's pressed on. Maybe next time not on Epic records? Who knows. Morello is more corporate than most of my friends' hot-blooded Republican dads... and even those guys won't like this album.