John Entwistle
Rigor Mortis Sets In

Nostalgia for '50s rock'n'roll? Need for fun without ulterior motives? This album is made for you.

With this album, John Entwistle begins his project of "returning to writing simple rock'n'roll songs," a project that will continue with the subsequent "Mad Dog" (not coincidentally considered "the son of Rigor Mortis").

Yes, indeed, it's a short, simple rock'n'roll album played by good musicians drunk to the core. It starts with "Gimme That Rock'n'Roll", the name says it all. It moves on to a cover of Johnny Cymbal, "Mr. Bass Man" which is very amusing, if a bit silly. The next "Do The Dangle" is a rock'n'roll with delightful little choruses. The fourth track is the famous "Hound Dog": John's version doesn't differ much from Elvis's, but it's always a pleasant track. One of the best moments of the album is "Made In Japan" (no, it has nothing to do with Deep Purple), but it is followed by the worst of the album, "My Wife". Yes, it's the same "My Wife" from "Who's Next". So how can it be the worst moment of the album? Simple: it doesn't quite match the spirit of the album. John wanted to record the piece again because he wasn't satisfied with the 1971 original, and this version is not to be discarded, in fact, it has nothing to envy of the more famous one, it's just that it stands out a bit from the remaining tracks. In short, in my opinion, it doesn't quite fit in the context.

The seventh track is the ballad (if we can call it that) "Roller Skate Kate", which tells the story of a girl John went around skateboarding with, but who unfortunately dies in an accident. The next track is "Peg Leggy Peggy", a good rock'n'roll, with a fantastic (if I'm not mistaken) acoustic bass line, in my opinion the best track on the album. The version of "Lucille" is great, as is the concluding "Big Black Cadillac". A characteristic of the album are the snippets at the ends of some songs where you hear outrageous laughter (the one at the end of "Roller Skate Kate" is the top of the tops) or shooting noises... basically, they were pretty drunk.

In short, despite the cover (which shows Entwistle's famous macabre humor) it's a very lively and well-played album, nothing static, here the Rigor Mortis is far away. And don't expect virtuosic bass solos, or tracks from the "500 greatest rock songs." It's a rock'n'roll album, nothing more. Just as John wanted.