Review: Steve Plunkett – Straight Up
Cleopatra Records (July 26th, 2024)
Reviewer: Jason Hopper
As a fan of the band Autograph for at least three decades, the news of a new album by original founder and singer Steve Plunkett was welcomed news. I have multiple copies of the original three albums on CD, always upgrading when a new version from Spitfire or Rock Candy records was released. I have the original version of ‘Missing Pieces‘, the ‘Buzz‘ album, and Steve’s first solo album ‘My Attitude‘, which contains some of my favorite tracks from him. To say that a new solo album was anticipated would be an understatement. I also did not think it would ever come to pass as it seems like Steve had retired long ago and showed no indication of ever coming back to the scene.
That why it breaks my heart to say that Steve Plunkett’s new album, his second solo release in 34 years, is one of the most soulless, vapid, pieces of excrement I have ever listened to. An album on a whole new level of bad unlike any that has ever existed. Why am I being so vicious? Because the album is a lie. I am 100% convinced this entire album was created using AI. Everything, the instruments, lyrics, background vocals and album cover. The only “real” part of this album is Steve’s voice, which has held up surprisingly well and is the only decent aspect to the album.
I’m not sure what words he entered into the AI software, but whatever was churned out sounds like something you would hear from early 80s Rick Springfield, minus the heart and soul, with some of the most amateur lyrics imaginable. Problem #1 is the excessive repeating of lyrics. Take the song ‘First Step’. The song is 4 minutes and 15 seconds long and the title is sung 38 times! 38! I wanted to rip my hair out from its obnoxious monotony. The rest of the lyrics are “Move your feet to the beat” nonsense.
Problem #2 is the trite cliches. The cliches are overwhelming! Guess what the song ‘Six String Hero’ is about? Here’s some ground-breaking lyrics: “I play my solo on my knees. Are you ready to rock with me?” Curious what he sings about in ‘Rock Star’? Here’s the opening lyrics: “I wanna be a rock star, I wanna drive a big car, I wanna play my guitar, I wanna be a rock rock rock…” A fifteen-year-old could write better lyrics than this. Let’s do one more. Here’s the lyrics to ‘We’re Gonna Jam’: “Gonna rock this house, gonna rock this band…we’re gonna jam. Turn the music up…we’re gonna jam. Never get enough…we’re gonna jam”. There is no way in hell Steve Plunkett wrote such basic lyrics with banal, heartless rhythms to match.
I would normally do a breakdown of various songs in a review, but it’s pointless. All of these songs sound like they were written by young teens in a garage band in the early 80s. There is no way Steve, with all his talent, could possibly fall this far from grace, which leads me back to my AI comment. What upsets me most is not only a favored artist of mine clearly phoning it in with AI, but the possibility that many more artists will follow in an effort to spend as little money as possible for a cash grab based on name recognition. The overhead on this tripe is so small that streaming alone will cover the costs. No physical media, merchandise, or touring necessary. That to me is a terrifying possibility and why I feel so personally offended by this album. The only sweat Steve poured into this project would be dependent on how warm the room was while he was entering this data into the computer.
God help us all if this is the start of a trend that could be the death knell for the genre. Do not purchase this album and if you have to stream it, stream it only once to see why AI should never replace the heart of an artist. After that, avoid at all costs. The worst “album” of the year.
Tracklist:
- Rock Machine
- Here We Go
- First Step
- Six String Hero
- Rock Star
- We’re Gonna Jam
- Knockout Punch
- On the Stage
- Gotta Jump
- Start It Up