  Perhaps for the first time in his career, Mike is no longer writing for
an audience, but for himself, and the straightforward details of his life,
at times joyous and at times terribly painful.
The album opens with a piano song that is both asks and declares What
To Do With Michael. The answers are woven through the entire record on
a backdrop of music that sounded like it was recorded in 1972.
“Keeping the music dry, the performances live, and recording onto
tape were important for the sound of this record. The lyrics are stark
and honest and I figured the sounds should be too.”
Providing backing vocals and support for the first time in ten years is
original Candy Butcher Todd Foulsham. Kiss Alive II four tracks in is
a tribute to their formative years lolling by the pool with their girlfriends
fantasizing about “making it big”.
We are brought uncomfortably close to the premature death of Mike’s
first wife Kim (one of the girls by the pool) then left to fend for
ourselves as we reel through the sour memories of the fame people expected
of him in his “rock prodigy” years on the song Superkid.
“How can you be a rock prodigy? I mean, rock and roll is chords…how
hard is that?”
Eventually the album closes with “Hunker Down”, a weary
recounting of a career in rock and roll that, in the end, leaves you
with a feeling that Mike has a newfound sense of purpose born out of
struggle. |
What To Do With Michael 
Nice To Know You
Unexpected Traffic
Kiss Alive II
Hang On Mike
Painkillers
Superkid
Not So Bad At All
Let's Have a Baby
Charlie
Sparkle!
Hunker Down
|
