Ten years from “Kings & Queens of the Underground”, Billy Idol returns with a record that is together a memoir album and a declaration of intent.
“Dream Into it” does not chase the present, but scrutinizes it from afar, crossed by a flow of consciousness in which reflection, melancholy and targeted collaborations stratify on a musical fabric that alternates pop-rock impulses and rarer drifts.
The title does not deceive: Idol no longer dreams, but reworks. The ghosts of London punk, the nights burned of excesses and youth ambitions overlook the texts with disarming lucidity. The opening entrusted to the title track, built on synthetic beats and an alienating electronics, immediately outlines an elegiac tone: it is the self -portrait of a survivor that is told without sweetening.
The disc acquires impetus with 77duet with Avril Lavigne, which transforms nostalgia into a pop-punk ride with an acronyistic, but aware flavor. The song works more for its energy than for aesthetic consistency, but confirms the intention of Idol to confront a new generation. On the contrary, Wildside with Joan Jett e John Wayne With Alison Mosshart are two successful and intense episodes, where the commonality of experience and vocal adherence produce moments of authentic pathos.
There is, in the background, a constant tension between the need to tell each other and the difficulty of finding a language that does not betray itself. Songs like People I love, too much fun and the final Still Dancing These are the apices of the disc: texts imbued with awareness and arrangements that recall the idol of the 80s without expiring in the car.
“Dream Into it” is an uneven work, at times unbalanced, but precisely in this instability its truth lies. It does not seek approval or easy nostalgia, but moves like an open balance sheet, a sound diary in which Billy Idol, almost seventy -year -old, is still confirmed that he is able to get involved – despite, or perhaps thanks to, all his contradictions.
To listen immediately
77 – Wildside – Still Dancing
To skip immediately
34 minutes for a leap in the past is fine …
Score: Vote 6.50
Dream Into it
77 (Featuring Avril Lavigne)
Too Much Fun
John Wayne (Featuring Alison Mosshart)
WildSide (Featuring Joan Jett)
People I love
Gimme The Weight
I'm your hero
Still Dancing
