Rating:
Genre:
Rap
Release Date: 10/20/1998
Run Time: 55:07
Saying that
Everlast showed a great deal of artistic growth between his first and second solo albums would be a understatement. While 1989/1990's
Forever Everlasting was a decent, if uneven, debut,
Everlast's second solo album,
Whitey Ford Sings the Blues is an amazingly eclectic gem that finds him really pushing himself creatively. Between those two albums,
Everlast joined and left
House of Pain, which evolved into one of the most distinctive
rap groups of the 1990s. While
Pain's albums thrived on wildness for its own sake,
Whitey Ford has a much more introspective and serious tone.
Everlast, who was born with a heart defect, was in the process of recording the album when he needed life-saving open-heart surgery; in fact, he was lucky that he was around to see
Whitey Ford completed and released. Though not without its share of hardcore b-boy
rap,
Whitey Ford also finds
Everlast playing acoustic guitar, doing some singing, and exploring
folk-rock,
Memphis soul, and
heavy metal. As a singer,
Everlast has a relaxed style that sounds a bit like
Gil Scott-Heron.
"Today (Watch Me Shine)," "Ends," and
"What It's Like" venture into
Neil Young/
Bob Dylan territory, while
"Hot to Death" is blistering
metal with
industrial touches. And the plot thickens -- on
"The Letter," he raps over a
jazz-influenced piano. Given how
rap's hardcore tends to frown on rappers crossing over to
rock, it took guts for
Everlast to be so diverse. But it's a good thing that he did, for his risk-taking pays off handsomely on this outstanding release.
~Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
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