Tommy Lee
Never A Dull Moment
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For $13.75

Tommy Lee really couldn't ask for a better music career. With over two decades as the drummer for the zillion selling metal band Motley Crue, Lee has made plenty of dough, toured the world numerous times and played his drums suspended upside down hanging above the crowd. In the late nineties he took some time off from his day job to record and tour with his side project Methods of Mayhem. Now, finally, in 2002, Lee has released his very first solo CD, Never a Dull Moment.

Even with a short parade of guest musicians Lee writes, sings, plays guitar and hammers the drums for almost all of the music on these twelve tracks. As you might expect, our motley friend lays into the big guitars on many of these songs. Although the single "Hold Me Down" starts with some sweet acoustic strums, it's only a matter of time before Lee's processed voice meets up with a wall of distortion. With all the confidence of a cocky rock star, the singer's voice and melodic inclinations shine on this stand out track.

Almost in defiance of his personal musical history, Lee plays up electronics, groove and high styled production on this recording. "Body Architects" rallies with an electro bassline that pushes the beat and pumps up the music. Then "Blue" slows things down with a quiet lament on love and loss. With uncommon emotion Lee sings, "I'm fallin', fallin' through/ If I'm not with you, all I wanna do is feel blue." It's all very soft and pretty until the end when guest singer Brandon Boyd of Incubus screams the chorus in a twisted moment of pain and torture.

Another top track here is the morphed and muscled cover of the David Bowie classic, "Fame." Lee knew he was tampering with greatness so he re-named the track, "Fame 02." He also added verses, changed the melody, tweaked the rhythm and made other various modifications to suit his needs. Not exactly as subtle or sophisticated as the original, this version keeps you guessing right up to the end.

While songs like "Sunday," "Afterglow," and "Face to Face" are rock solid anchors for the set list, a truly perfect moment occurs when Chino Marino of the Deftones steps up to the mic on "Ashamed."

With such a rich history in big rock beats and monster guitars, Lee's solo debut keeps things interesting by blending his past exploits and future musical visions. And why not? After all, with Tommy Lee it's never a dull moment.

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