After a decade and five albums, the original Rollins Band line up had nothing new on the horizon. The way Henry Rollins tells it, the dude at his local record store gave him a record. It was record by that record store dude’s band Mother Superior. Henry liked it and the band asked him to come to the studio and help them record. That same day, Henry and the three dudes from Mother Superior had written a few songs together. All of a sudden, a new version of Rollins Band was formed. They would spend the next five years touring and recording some of the best music to come out under that moniker. And while it sucks that there’s been no music from any version of Rollins Band in a decade and half, at least they went out on a bang, with Nice.
One Shot is a pretty cool song and a more than adequate opener, but Nice really kicks into gear with Up For It. Rollins’ speak singing almost reaching hip hop flow, topped off with a soaring organ and soul sister backing vocals. It’s a new dimension to the Rollins Band sound that is like nothing they’d done before, but still 100% Rollins Band. (more…)