Slash's Snakepit - Ain't Life Grand (2000, Japan)

This is a brand-new Snakepit lineup; the previous incarnation, which recorded 1995's It's Five O'Clock Somewhere, long ago disbanded. The band still has that L.A. sound though, and it is liable to bring a tear to the eye of anyone who grew up on the style of dirty hard rock that Slash helped establish with Guns N' Roses. Vocalist Rod Jackson seems at times to be imitating Paul Stanley, an affectation that's perfectly suited to this kind of rock & roll. Even so, Slash can't resist occasional attempts at experimentation; there's a sort of hip-hop attempt at the beginning of "Mean Bone," for instance. The hands-down favorite, though, has to be the title track, which owes more to the glam era than to the guitar crunching of the 1980s. It's not especially original, but it's an awful lot of fun, with its swing beat, saxophone, and world-weary lyrics. --Genevieve Williams