I know you would be hard-pressed to find someone saying outright that they enjoy Mickey Avalon without the precursory statement “well I don’t listen to him that much, that one hit single was alright though,” and not mentioning his occasionally crazy-gay lyrics “Fist-fucking faggots at the Y(MCA) on gym mats, rats run the wire while I’m looking for a match” and “Truckers get my digits off the stalls of rest stops, I’m sick on the microphone like smallpox,” but beyond the tattooed prostitution and fiending of the past there is some genuine lyrical talent here. Sure it touches on a fairly unknown segment of underground Americana, but the mixture of truthful stories and grandiose bravado really made for an attention-grabbing effort.

With “Loaded” though, I get mixed emotions with these hit or miss tracks. At times it feels like much of his creative energy is spent, on songs like “More Junk,” which is a blatant lyrical rehash of his self-titled album’s hit single “Jane Fonda,” the unusual, upbeat acoustic sing-a-long, “Mickey’s Girl,” as well as the sugar pop rap track “California Crack Cocaine.” But then we turn things around 180° with the well-paced beats and hooks from songs like “Rock Bottom” and the Andre Legacy featured track. It becomes such a mixed bag and a far removal from all the classic hits from his previous effort such as “Waiting To Die” and “Hustler Hall Of Fame.” Eventually you’ll notice that most of the tracks are either rave-colored pop songs or acoustic backed hybrid rap tracks, with honest Mickey Avalon songs sprinkled in.

So while the 18 tracks that inhabit this effort are a healthy dose of rap from one of our favorite white rappers who has done more degrading things in his life than simply working at a shitty job, “Loaded” tries to be too many things for too many listeners — so much so that i doubt Mickey himself was a huge fan after writing and recording it. It just lacks the well-rounded sure-toned beats and sharp lyrical presence that he brought out six years ago. Without practice you can sometimes fall into atrophy and that is what this record feels like. [Staff]

Score: 2.5 (out of 5)

Release Date: April 24th, 2012
Record Label: Suburban Noize Records
Genre: Rap
RIYL: Dirt Nasty, Andre Legacy, Dyslexic Speed Readers

Track Listing:
1. Rock Bottom
2. Girlfriend
3. On The…
4. Dance (Feat Cisco Adler)
5. More Junk
6. Drugs
7. CA Crack Cocaine (Feat. Cisco Adler)
8. Mr. Brownstone
9. Electric Gigolo
10. Funeral (Feat. Andre Legacy)
11. Mickeys Girl
12. Making Love
13. Take Me Home
14. Baby Doll
15. Part In My Pants
16. Tight Blue Jeans
17. I’m Hot
18. Girlfriend (Feat. Scott Russo of Unwritten Law)

Track Listing:
1. Late Nights
2. Obvious
3. Backup Plan
4. The Fall Guy
5. Stuck in ’03
6. Enemy
7. Wrong Things
8. Two Sides To Every Story
9. We Were Right Together and We Were Wrong Together
10. Regrets and Setbacks
11. Sleep Well