Boots Electric Puts On His Dancing Boots

As a front man to the Eagles of Death Metal Jesse "The Devil" Hughes, also named Boots Electric, already made three fine rock albums. The gritty rock 'n' roll songs, that he cooked up together with Queens of the Stone Age star Josh Homme, were played enthusiastically and with wit. The band visited The Netherlands several times and played entertaining shows, with a somewhat drugged Hughes as the merrily chatting and cheerful centre of attention. Now he's coming up with a solo record as Boots Electric entitled Honkey Kong. It was produced by Tony Hoffer who has worked with Beck, Depeche Mode and The Kooks in the past.


Boots Electric - Honkey Kong (Ronald Says 6 out of 10)

Anyone expecting another Eagles of Death Metal record, will be disappointed. Although it most certainly contains elements of that band, it has more turned into a pop record with lots of room for electronics. The ironical and witty lyrics however did remain, where Hughes tells about his female conquests and his admiration for the ladies. Many songs are very danceable with lots of electronic grooves, resulting into catchy tunes.

But it's mostly the songs that lean towards the rock sound of Eagles of Death Metal that are the most appealing. On these songs the electronics have a more supporting role instead of appearing on the foreground. And that just works a bit better. In 'Speed Demon' you can hear a playful organ and 'You'll Be Sorry' is a somewhat lazy rock song. 'No Ffun' even turned into a genuine crooner song.

Hughes won't impress many with this record. It is too light and free-form for that. It does sound like enough effort and time was put in the album. But in the end it just won't really stick. Ah well, enough reason for him to come visit our country again and spend an afternoon in an Amsterdam coffee shop. And after that cheerfully climb the stage with a big grin and flirt with the girls. So the small room of Paradiso will probably have a lively evening in September.

This review has been published on ROAR E-Zine in Dutch over here.

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