Coming off a rockin’ Christmas-themed release at the end of 2018, the dean of Detroit rock and soul Mitch Ryder returns in 2019 with this almost all hard-stomping collection of all-new recordings of covers called Detroit Breakout!
Starting with his signature hit, “Devil With A Blue Dress,” Ryder’s roughly hewn pipes attempt to rise alongside The Stooges’ James Williamson’s chunky electric. His voice fares better on tunes like “‘Dirty Water,” backed by New York Dolls’ Sylvain Sylvain’s noisy electric strut, and on the bluesy of “Turn Back The Hands Of Time,” where he duets with B.B. King’s daughter Shirley.
The guest players and production of these 14 tracks are all top notch. What’s going to most catch the listener though is how Ryder manages the vocals. His cover of “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)” is not one of the better moments here, nor is “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown,” even with Joe Louis Walker’s slide under Ryder’s vocal.
Overall Ryder fares better with the rockers. He locks in wonderfully with all the noise the Pink Fairies and Hawkwind guitarist Paul Rudolph plays on “Have Love, Will Travel,” and gets into the groove on “Shout.” Before this, there is a splendid piano-led, mid-tempo version of “If I Had A Hammer,” featuring Linda Gail Lewis. Ryder almost finds his place here.
Detroit Breakout! is not exactly a complete breakout, inconsistent as Mitch Ryder’s vocals are. But the guest musicians help it along. When he has those golden moments, you can almost hear the Mitch Ryder of old.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
