You may not recognize the name Tyson Leslie. He's played a sideman's role for the likes of George Lynch, Carmine Appice, Corey Taylor and Gavin DeGraw, but he refrained from self-releasing a solo record until this year. Train Wrecks, Havoc & Heartbreak reminds me why I began listening to rock music when I was a little kid: Simply put, it makes me feel good.
This 14-song power-pop/rock album opens with "Little Green Honda," a sunny, bouncy throwback to the Nineties (Butch Walker), the Eighties (Enuff Z'nuff), the Seventies (Jackson Browne) and the Sixties (The Beatles). From there, Leslie struts his stuff with confidence that can only come by playing back-up to musicians who you know, deep down, are inferior to you.
"Crazy All Over" is a roll-down-the-windows open-road rocker, while "Suckerpunch" roils with self-deprecation: "I play in a band with huge rock star/I pick up his groceries and gas up his car/I do all his laundry and clean up his house/But all I want is to get the hell out." "She Danced Under the Lights" — anchored by guest co-vocal by Lyndsey Lou — soars with so many melodies and harmonies that it's easy to forget the song is about strippers, "Wasted Time" sounds like latter-day Cheap Trick, and "Goodbye to the Rain," "If He Comes Home" and "Blanket for Your Soul" remind me why big ballads exist. All this, and then Leslie's guitar solo at the end of "Blanket for Your Soul," which will blow your mind.
This guy can play (everything except drums on this album), sing and evoke emotions you haven't had since you dissected the lyrics on that mixtape a girl named Kris made for you back in college. Train Wrecks, Havoc & Heartbreak won't win awards for breaking new musical ground, but some albums don't need to. The mere fact that Tyson Leslie is making music this vulnerable, memorable and emotional in 2014 is enough for me.
Surprise of the year (non-metal category)? It's right here, my friends.
Track Listing:
1) Little Green Honda
2) Crazy All Over
3) She Danced Under the Lights
4) Selective Amnesia
5) A Mourning to Lament
6) Goodbye to the Rain
7) Suckerfish
8) Stranger
9) Wasted Time
10) If He Comes Home
11) Blanket for Your Soul
12) Under the Gun
13) 88 MPH
14) The Last Words
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