Billy Squier - Happy Blue (1998)

All at once bluesy and nostalgic, gritty and somewhat sentimental, Billy Squier's first release of new material in years is a pleasant surprise. Consisting of self-penned songs (except a modified cover of Joni Mitchell's "River") performed by himself on nothing but an acoustic guitar, Happy Blue is remarkable in that it doesn't smack at all of the trite "I'm nearly 50 and a reformed, enlightened individual" message that seems to hammer many aging rock musicians' comeback efforts after long periods of hiatus. With his sparse melodies matching lyrics that maintain the integrity of his trademark Everyman's woes about life and love and ordinary things in between, Squier indicates that he's not phased by the media's and public's opinions of him as Billy Squier the '80s rock star coming back with a folk album…and that alone is refreshing. Squier is clearly an accomplished musician, alternating between classic blues riffs and discordant folk notes waxing nostalgia on his acoustic guitar while crooning in his Robert Plant-esque tenor without intending to rip off Zeppelin. His latest release is almost reminiscent of Bob Mould's solo comeback following a long break after his punkish Husker Du days; Squier, like Mould, doesn't wish to return to his past roots, but also doesn't want to use his first solo effort sans band (and following the tragic death of his longtime drummer Bobby Chouinard) to trumpet his comeback loudly a la "I'm Still Standing" (no offence to Elton John, whom I think STILL rocks). Hats off to a pleasing and admirable effort by a highly underrated musician of our times, of Everytime. ~Amazon

Track listing
01. Happy Blue (5:00)
02. The Pursuit Of Happiness (7:42)
03. She Will (5:03)
04. Grasping For Oblivion (4:57)
05. If You Would Hate Me Less,I would Love You More (6:28)
06. Stroke Me Blues (4:40)
07. More Than Words Can Say (3:40)
08. Inferno (Everybody Cries Sometimes) (5:44)
09. Long Way To Fail (5:08)
10. River (5:14)
11. Two (2:48)



Thx to rat