Track Listing

1. One Shot
2. Up For It
3. Gone Inside The Zero
4. Hello
5. What's The Matter Man
6. Your Number Is One
7. Stop Look & Listen
8. I Want So Much More
9. Hangin' Around
10. Going Out Strange
11. We Walk Alone
12. Let That Devil Out

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #68653 in Music
• Released on: 2001-08-21
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics

Amazon.com
Contrary to the disc's title, there is nothing polite about this new release from the Rollins Band. Fronted by aggressively prolific Henry Rollins and backed by members of Mother Superior, the Rollins Band takes a chainsaw to society, cutting down people who speak first and think later ("Stop Look and Listen"), cities that break your spine ("I Want So Much More"), and never fitting in ("Going Out Strange"). Rollins gives his typical cynical rants, with a couple peeks into the man behind the muscle--"I'm just lonely," he yells repeatedly on "Hello"--backed by the band's usual vigorous take on hard rock. There are some twists on this disc, though, like the funky rhythms on "Your Number Is One" and "Gone Inside the Zero" as well as the electric blues jams on "Hello" and "Let That Devil Out." "Up for It" is the best song on the disc, with a James Brown intro and backup gospel singers adding soul to Rollins's heavy-handed approach. Although the Rollins Band does throw around different musical styles on Nice, overall it's still basically as straightforward as the man who fronts it. It's angry rock & roll from one of rock's angriest men. --Jennifer Maerz

Customer Reviews

Adding some diversity to the intensity
Upon hearing that Henry Rollins added organ, horns, and female backing vocals to this album, you'd figure he was finally slowing down. Not by a long shot. This is easily his best album since Weight and certainly his most diverse. The intensity is still there and in full force on the killer opening track "One Shot" and the slow grinding tracks "Hello" and "Hanging Around." The great heavy metal that dominated his previous album Get Some Go Again is still here in the tracks "What's The Matter Man", "Stop Look and Listen", and "Gone Inside The Zero." But amazingly, the songs that work best here are the most diverse. "Up For It" and "I Want So Much More" are definitely a change of pace with the soulful backing vocals and the killer sax solo in the latter. "We Walk Alone" starts out with a repetitive rock riff before going almost completely silent after the solo and then ending with a blues jam which leads right into the killer groove of "Let That Devil Out." Marcus Blake's bass work is great throughout, most notably on the driving riff that carries the excellent track "Your Number Is One." Only the slow grunge of "Going Out Strange" keeps this from being a 5-star album. If you liked Henry Rollins when he was at his most visible in the mid-90's and wondered what he's been doing lately, check this album out. You won't be disappointed.

kicks ass
This album was everything I had hoped it to be. Rollins (or should I say "the throat") does it again with this creative explosition. The straight forward lyrics and sound were the most obvious of its charms. I find that the genre that is being promoted (or is it invented?) by Rollins himself is best represented in this album.

I highly recomend this to anyone that wants a musical experience that kicks your ass.

Real No-Frills Rock and Roll
I recently heard Herny Rollins say, "We'll be the last band on earth to use Pro Tools." On this album, there's not much in the way of fancy effects or overdubs, which works great because the guys in Mother Superior CAN PLAY, and effects would just take away from that. They absolutely don't need studio glitz to hide musical inadequacies. Henry also sounds great here. The songwriting is sharp, and the songs follow a number of different styles.

If you like this album, then you have to see The Rollins Band live. It's stripped down rock at it's best - no stage set, no lighting effects, and no choreography or costumes. It's just four very talented musicians who get on stage and play like maniacs, and really sound great doing it.