Published on Dec 5, 2000
A few months ago, my buddy at J-Bird Records sent me a bunch of
re-releases from Mitch Ryder. You remember Ryder, don’t you? With
his band the Detroit Wheels, he left his permanent mark on ’60s
rock with “Devil With The Blue Dress/Good Golly Miss Molly.”
Well, apparently this wasn’t the style of music that Ryder
wanted to play, and he was creatively stifled by the industry. When
he finally started recording on his own, he let out all of his
aggression.
How I Spent My Vacation, Ryder’s 1978 release, is an example
of that — but sometimes Ryder’s choice of subject matter in his
songs is highly questionable.
This disc marked the end of Ryder’s five-year self-imposed exile
from the music business. And right out of the gate, Ryder showed
that he was pissed off — though at whom, it’s hard to tell. Take
“Tough Kid,” the album’s opening track. Sample lyric: “Open your
mouth you failure, shoot off a gun / Nobody’s gonna miss you anyway
when your [sic] gone.” Musically, it’s a sound effort — but the
sheer anger of this one leaves me confused, and it takes all the
musical fire out of the track.
Nothing, however, prepares you for “Cherry Poppin'”. I listened
to this track several times, each time asking myself, “Did he
really say what I think he said?” Believe it, bucko. On one side,
you could say that the, aah, creative imagery Ryder uses here is
meant to express anger at how he was treated by the music industry
early in his career. But on the other hand, one wonders if Ryder
was asked to become the spokesman for NAMBLA after cutting this
track. Mitch, c’mon, man to man… what the fuck were you
thinking when you wrote this one, huh?
Yet there are times when
How I Spent My Vacation shows the talents of Ryder and his
fellow bandmates, and makes you wonder why Ryder wasn’t allowed to
plow his own musical path earlier in his career. “Dance Ourselves
To Death” is highlighted by the solid performance of his backing
band, while “Passions Wheel” and “Freezin’ In Hell” allow Ryder to
show a gentler side to himself.
Still,
How I Spent My Vacation is as difficult to listen to as
sitting through five carousels of vacation shots when you go visit
relatives you hate. “Nice & Easy” and “Poster” are very
difficult tracks to get through, though there are occasional signs
of hope in both songs. Even a song like “The Jon,” which is one of
the better tracks, occasionally steeps itself into non sequitur
babbling lyrically.
Was it a good idea for Ryder to come back into the musical scene
with such raw nerves exposed? I don’t know the answer to that, but
I do know that
How I Spent My Vacation is an occasionally disturbing
picture that might seem satisfying to some, scary to others, and I
have difficulty recommending this one.