CD review: Jesse Malin - "The Fine Art Of Self Destruction (Reissue)"

The following CD review was originally published in March 2016 in the print issue of "Utropia" (Issue no.2-44.Årgang), Northern Norway's biggest student magazine at that time. 

Compositions of timeless beauty, reissued for the younger generation

TEXT: Stefanie Singh

Artist: Jesse Malin

Album: The Fine Art Of Self Destruction (Reissue)

Record Label: One Little Indian Records

Rating: 5/6

Early in March 2016, two Utropians ended up at a gig of Jesse Malin in Sweden's capital Stockholm (In Norway, he stopped by in the capital Oslo, also at the beginning of March 2016). The live qualities were considered as very good - and the same applies to the reissue of his debut album "The Fine Art Of Self Destruction" from the year 2002.

One is tempted to label the American as a singer / songwriter, but this is just one of the many facets of the musician who amongst others made a splash as the frontman of the glam punk band D Generation in the 1990s. As a solo artist, he not only delivers a very felicitous cover version of Bruce Springsteen's "Hungry Heart" on the bonus disc of the reissued "The Fine Art..."; it's the very same Bruce Springsteen who took the opportunity to collaborate with Jesse Malin in 2007. The result was the duet "Broken Radio".

But let's stay on track with the reissue of "The Fine Art...": "Solitaire" and "Brooklyn" are originally from Jesse Malin's era with the band Bellvue, and on the bonus disc, even "Sorrow" can be found which turns out to be one of the highlights of this re-release. And the demo version of "TKO" sounds almost better than the version on the regular album while the regular disc consists of catchy songs such as "Riding On The Subway".

The purchase of the reissue pays off also for those who already have the original version from 2002, not least due to the additional 11 tracks on the bonus disc which were obviously compiled with love. And after 14 years, one can certainly gain new fans with old material.