Warrior Soul: Cocaine And Other Good Stuff (Livewire/Cargo, 2020)

The rock n’ roll circus that is Warrior Soul decided to take a break from the politically-charged hard rock they’ve been known for since 1989 and serve up a collection of cover songs to help close out this long, strange year. Kory Clarke and company have taken on some covers before, but a full-on covers album is coming out of left field. What kind of songs would they choose? How would they put their own stamp on them? Read on.

The collection is titled Cocaine And Other Good Stuff, and believe it or not they kind of play it safe here with plenty of “meat and potatoes” rock songs from the likes of KISS, Van Halen, Alice Cooper and Motorhead, though they did venture into The Cars and KC And The Sunshine Band territory.

Here’s the full tracklist:

Good Times Roll (The Cars)
Cocaine (J.J. Cale)
Crosstown Traffic (Jimi Hendrix)
Cold Gin (KISS)
D.O.A. (Van Halen)
Elected (Alice Cooper)
Outlaw (Motörhead)
Firehouse (KISS)
Get Down Tonight (KC And The Sunshine Band)
We’re An American Band (Grand Funk Railroad)
Living After Midnight (Judas Priest)

For the most part, these covers are a lot of fun. The band doesn’t take many liberties with the material, and you can tell they’re enjoying themselves. Clarke is his usual rowdy, dynamic self, which translates especially well on songs like “Elected,” “Firehouse” and “Cocaine.” Album closers “We’re An American Band” and “Living After Midnight” are also gems.

They should have swapped out one of the two KISS tunes for a Thin Lizzy song, but that’s my only gripe. Otherwise this is a fun collection of covers that should tide Warrior Soul fans over until their next original album. It’s also a good collection for fans who may have lost track of the band after the ’90s.