The Hard Stuff (Wayne Kramer album)
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| The Hard Stuff | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | January 10, 1995 | |||
| Studio | Westbeach Recorders, Hollywood | |||
| Genre | Rock 'n' roll | |||
| Length | 41:35 | |||
| Label | Epitaph | |||
| Producer | Wayne Kramer | |||
| Wayne Kramer chronology | ||||
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The Hard Stuff is the solo debut album by American musician Wayne Kramer, best known as a guitarist with the 1960s group MC5. It was released on January 10, 1995, by Epitaph Records. Kramer is supported by a range of younger musicians including the band Claw Hammer and members of Bad Religion, the Melvins, and Suicidal Tendencies.[1]
The cover art is modeled after the influential Blue Note Records releases from the 1950s and '60s.
The album concludes with a hidden track titled "So Long, Hank", a tribute to writer Charles Bukowski who died in 1994.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| Entertainment Weekly | C+[3] |
| Rolling Stone | [4] |
| The Village Voice |  [5] |
New York wrote that "...the Hard Stuff shows [Kramer] to be in full command of his jam-kicking facilities," while praising the album's "vital rawness".[6] David Sprague and Ira Robbins wrote in Trouser Press that the album "careens from free-jazz-backed spoken word to bug-eyed metal in a manner every bit as fierce and feral as Kramer's golden age."[7] Entertainment Weekly's Mike Flaherty was less favorable, describing the album as "a bombastic album dominated by tales of ’90s-style sociopolitical decay" and giving it a C+.[3] The Washington Post's Mark Jenkins was also critical of the album, writing that on it, Kramer "is still tough and eclectic, but he fails to reconjure the sheer abandon of his former band's best work."[8] Alan Crandall wrote in Perfect Sound Forever that the album "had something, that undefinable "oomph" that keeps you throwing on a particular album because you just really like it for no easily articulated reason."[9]
