VH1 Storytellers

Product Description:

Personnel: Billy Idol (vocals); Steve Stevens (acoustic & electric guitars); Joseph Simon (piano, Hammond B3 organ); Steve McGrath (bass, background vocals); Mark Shulman (drums, background vocals); Greg Ellis (percussion); Stella Soleil (background vocals).

Includes liner notes by Bill Flanagan.

While it might seem incongruous for a rock & roll rebel like Billy Idol to perform on an ostensibly introspective songwriters show like VH1's STORYTELLERS, he pulls it off with the same adaptability that allowed him to move from punk upstart to pop star to rock veteran with such seamlessness. In all honesty, it's rather a kick to hear the familiar moody guitar intro from "White Wedding" played on acoustic guitar, especially knowing that it's longtime Idol cohort Steve Stevens doing the picking. Surprisingly, Idol's wildman bellow modulates quite well to a lower dynamic on this song and such others as "Flesh For Fantasy" and the R&B cover tune "To be a Lover." The all-acoustic format doesn't stop Idol and his stripped-down band from rocking out on "Cradle of Love" and the Generation X (his old punk band) staples like "Ready Steady Go." What's more, the STORYTELLERS setup seems tailor-made for tackling one of the aforementioned band's finest tunes "Kiss Me Deadly," which seemed out of place amid the roar of late-'70s punk but is flattered by it's treatment here.