What’s good, Whitey? I see Love, War, and the Ghost of Whitey Ford just dropped on Sept. 23. Swingin’ for the fences on this one, huh? What I always dug about your stuff is you ain’t afraid to get serious, talk about some real shit that has some real emotion behind it.

This one though? Bro, it’s one thing to talk about homeless dudes and chicks gettin’ abortions; you’re gettin’ biblical on this record. I’m gonna lay it out for you, Everlast. What people liked about your solo work was that it was stripped down, gritty, raw and acoustic. I’ll give you some credit for tryin’ to spread your wings a little, but this album is overproduced and it just doesn’t work for your style of songwriting. Everything is slick and studio polished, but you lost the soul that your best stuff was about. I’m gonna be straight with you, son—this one is gonna sink like a stone (and what’s up with you and the word “stone” anyway? “Stone In My Hand”, “Throw a Stone”, “Letters Home from the Garden of Stone” all on one record?).

I’m not sayin’ there aren’t any highlights. “Anyone” has a little more of that raw feel, and the ghostly effects and reverb-drenched country vibe has a hint of that Black Keys record with Danger Mouse, which plays better here than it did there. “Friend” could crossover into the “adult alternative” market and it reminds me of some of the better ’90s alt-pop. I like that on “Weakness” you’re getting back to the storytelling-type lyrics—you were always one of the best at that and not enough people are doin’ it these days.

But then tracks like “Everyone” and “Stay” go off the rails a little. In both cases they start out promising. The latter has an atmospheric groove to it; the riff reminds me of “Natural High” by Bloodstone a little bit. And the gospel harmonizing in the chorus catches a cool “Gimme Shelter” vibe. Taken as a whole, though? The song sounds too big to support the lyrics. Again, dude, raw and gritty works for you. All this studio shit just hides the rawness, and the album is worse for it. I know you’ve been hot to work on some movie projects and stuff lately, but a song like “Stay” just sounds like a typical end-of-the-second-act-will-our-hero-make-it-stay-tuned-kids TV score. All the other tracks about war and politics and whatnot suffer from the same problem. We know the world is effed up nowadays, dude, but it isn’t 2004 anymore and hearing about it, especially with such epic-sized production, is just tiring. In short, man, stop trying so hard.

I know your solo career isn’t your only focus these days. You’re producing songs for Snoop, writing TV show themes, you got La Coka Nostra and you got your mash-ups with Muggs from Cypress Hill (the “Folsom Prison Blues” mash-up was a necessity here, as it added a little light-heartedness to this record, and frankly you should’ve included another one somewhere). You’ve got enough cred and enough talent that you can move freely in any genre; work with damn near anyone; do damn near anything you want. So stop trying to put everything on your solo records. Tattoo “K.I.S.S.” on your forehead, man: keep it simple, stupid. The world might have wanted another Everlast blues-rock jump-off, but we didn’t need Love, War, and the Ghost of Whitey Ford. Sorry.

Sincerely, Murph.

P.S.: This record was about

Everlast - Love, War, and the Ghost of Whitey Ford
Three Ring Project (9/23/08)
Rock / Blues / Hip-hop