I don't suspect that even
Kid Rock believed he had an album as good as
Devil Without a Cause in him. Nobody else believed it, that's for sure. But he didn't just find the perfect extention of his
Beastie and
Diamond Dave infatuations here, he came up with the great
hard rock album of the late '90s -- a fearlessly funny, bone-crunching record that manages to sustain its strength, not just until the end of its long running time, but through repeated plays. The key to its sucesss is that it's never trying to be a
hip-hop record. It's simply a monster
rock album, as
Twisted Brown Trucker turns out thunderous, funky noise -- and that's funky not just in the classic sense, but also in a Southern-fried, white trash sense, as he gives this as much foundation in
country as he does
hip-hop. But what really reigns supreme on
Devil Without a Cause is a love of piledriving, classic
hard rock, not just that of hometown hero
Bob Seger, but
Lynyrd Skynyrd,
Van Halen, and faceless
arena rock ballads. The
Kid makes it all shine with rhymes so clever and irresistible that it's impossible not to quote them. For all its modernity --
Rock's rapping, the titanic metallic guitars,
Joe C's sideshow sidekick, the plea to "get in the pit and try to love someone" -- this is firmly in the tradition of classic
hard rock, and it's the best good-time
hard rock album in years (certainly the best of the last three years of the '90s). [
Devil Without a Cause was also released in a "clean" version, removing most of the profanities and vulgarities -- and, along with them, some of the
Kid's jokes.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
![Spectres [Expanded Edition]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0886976927127_p0_v3_s90x140.jpg "Spectres [Expanded Edition]")
![I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama! [Bonus Tracks]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0886972384122_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama! [Bonus Tracks]")
