I swear Mike get’s better with every year that passes, and his second album for Silver Lining Music just adds to an already incredibly rich legacy he began all those years ago with Hanoi Rocks. It’s been an astonishing 35 years since his first solo album ‘Nights are so Long’ and as someone who has been along for the entire ride I can honestly say that he’s one of the few artists I’ve loved for decades that is still producing songs that are right u there with the best of yesteryear.
With ‘I Live Too Fast to Die Young’ it’s a case of best foot forward again – ‘Murder the Summer of Love’ is a wonderfully driven rocker and has that early Hanoi vibe going on, it’s the perfect opener and the frenetic pace and punky grit of “Young Drunks Old Alcoholics’ feels like Hanoi meets the punky drive of SLF. It’s one of my favourite opening one-two punches his side of the millennium!
But its an album of wonderful variety, where the moody ‘Derelict Palace’ invokes bands like Lords of the New Church one moment and then makes way for the thrust and barrage of ‘All Fighter’ topped by a sizzling solo, before the magical nostalgia of ‘Everybody’s Nobody‘ that Michael does so well. It’s songs like that that remind those of us that were there back in the day what’s been lost as time moves on but it’s still somehow wonderfully uplifting.
‘Antisocialite’ breaks things up – an assured ballad that I must admit didn’t hit the spot upon first listen but which just grows and grows with each play. One of my real highlights though is the barroom Rolling Stones of ‘Can’t Stop Falling Apart’ that follows. It’s irresistible and irrepressible and will have you singing along in seconds!
The attitude, and ‘foot to the floor’ vocal of ‘Pagan Prayer ‘ is another real Punky winner and sports some great lyrics, and the contemplative ‘No Guilt’ brings yet another dimension to the table. The punky defiance of the title track ‘I Live Too Fast To Die Young’ is another driving rocker that really hits the spot and it’s right up there with the best here.
The closing track ‘Dearly Departed’ opens like the theme music to a 50 year old TV show and sits apart from all else here, dark and melancholic it leads the album out on a downer and I’m still not sure what to make of it. It’s an interesting way to close what is another wonderful record with more than enough songs to vie for a place in the live setlist.
Recorded at Inkfish Studios in Helsinki, Finland between November and December 2021 and produced by the band with engineer Erno Laitinen, the album features Monroe on lead vocals and harmonica, Steve Conte (guitars and vocals), Rich Jones (guitar, vocals), Karl Rockfist (drums) and Sami Yaffa (bass/vocals/guitar) as well as enjoying several guests including Guns N’ Roses guitar legend Slash, who solos and provides additional guitars on the title track.
Monroe always makes me feel young, and makes me remember when I first heard that voice and when it first lodged itself in my brain. There’s not many artists at all that I loved as a kid that I still feel so much anticipation when they have a new record out but Monroe is still there at the summit and still remarkably he never fails to deliver.
9/10