Album Of The Week: Buckcherry's All Night Long

Sadly, this week it's my duty to bring you another Album of the Week that just isn't all that great. Why, one might ask, would I bother bringing this to your attention? To which I would answer for the same reason I brought Ed Kowalksihfjnuual's solo album to your attention: because it's so disappointing it makes me sad.

Buckcherry is one of those "love them or hate them" rock bands. They have a bit of Aerosmith flair and a definite penchant for party rock and frat house lyrics. Perfect for singing along with at the bar after you fourth or fifth beer. Or tenth. You know, whichever. If you have no idea who they are, you might remember their hit circa 2000 Lit Up (I've included that in the player on the page as well in case you need a reminder). It's that very same core rock and roll sound that kept me coming back and enjoying their subsequent albums, even though they did not get nearly as much attention. I suppose that is what happens when you take several years off after your first album to rebuild the band, but that's just my idea.

Their newest album, All Night Long, just misses the mark in a lot of places. Sure, it's the same formula as the others: take two pieces of "radio friendly, slightly shocking song," one-two pieces of borderline ballad, and six-eight pieces of fun, upbeat rock and you have an album! But the heart and soul is missing from All Night Long. Mediocre production and slightly tired songwriting really hamper this album, which is really sad because this is just one of those bands that has to actively try to make a boring record.

All that said, it is not utter crap like Alive was. It's still very listenable, although I'm not sure why you'd chose to listen this All Night Long over 15 or Black Butterfly (which I think is a very overlooked album). All Night Long, It's A Party and Oh My Lord are still good tracks though, and it might be worth it to just grab those on their own.

It did worry me a bit when I saw All Night Long announced and realized that it was releasing just about a year after Black Butterfly. Turns out my concern was warranted. Personally, I'm thinking this is just another bump in the road for Buckcherry and they'll recover in a year or two with another actually good album. In the meantime, catch them live if you can and pester them to play some Crazy Bitch.

Buckcherry queer link: apparently the band got their name from a local drag queen named Buck Cherry after they found out their original name, Sparrow, was already copyrighted.