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EverlastWhite Trash Beautiful Island/Def Jam/UMG That woman you done wrong, she ain't never comin' back. She weren't to be swayed two albums ago and it don't look like she's about to change her mind. Let it go. He can't though, and that's why Everlast has the blues. His abused muse and erstwhile soul-mate still haunts songs like Sleepin' Alone and Angel as surely as she did half the tracks on his previous solo outings. Being stuck in a slump shouldn't be an issue for an aspiring blues musician but there's a sense that 'White Trash Beautiful,' while good, is needlessly unsurprising. As young hip-hoppersnappers like Eminem talk trash about white trash, Everlast - all experience and regret - continues his sincere story-telling about life among the underclasses of the American dream. Mixing rap with acoustic guitar means that Blinded By The Sun effortlessly invokes John Cougar's Jack And Diane even as it samples Run DMC's Rock Box. The real danger though is that as one laid-back strum merges with the next Everlast starts sounding less troubled troubador and more Jack Johnson with better rhythym. It's left to the jaunty brags of Ticking Away and The Warning to kick it up a notch but there's no reason why more of this album doesn't burn. Co-producing again with Dante Ross, Everlast has arrived at a sound that's a little too neat and contained for it's own message. Pain is a plodder only because it begrudgingly refuses to give into it's own acid-rock urges and become a ball-tearer. God Wana similarly ambles when it could soar. Becoming a rapping bluesman was a challenge in 1998 when Everlast released 'Whitey Ford Sings The Blues'. Now it's become a habit. 'White Trash Beautiful' finds Everlast at a crossroads where he must either take the hard road towards something fresh and unknown or sell his soul to the devil of repetition.  |
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