To be truthful, I wasn’t expecting much from this album from former Warrant vocalist Jani Lane. Stories about his personal life (getting drunk, mostly) maybe eclipse any interest in Jani’s actual music.

But this album surprised me, as it was better than I was anticipating. Most of the songs were co-written by Kerri Kelli, and the majority are annoyingly catchy. Then again, some of them are actually just annoying full-stop; the likes of opening track Funny would perhaps not sound amiss on an album by the likes of Blink 182 or someone crap like that.

Most of the songs have that kind of poppy feel to them, for example Better Than You and Nothing. When How A Girl began, its slower pace was somewhat of a relief from the catchy, repetitive choruses of the previous few songs. As this album was written in the late-90’s and early 00’s, it can sound a little dated and too much like the rock that was popular back then (do we recall how awful bands were at the start of the millennium?!) For example, Twilight reminded me, oddly, of Feeder.

Title track Back Down To One is undoubtedly the best track on the record. The drums kind of sound as if they were recorded from someone’s bathroom, but this song is probably the heaviest of the bunch, and certainly sounds the most energetic. Don’t Trust Me is also okay.

All in all, this album is filled with radio-friendly pop rock songs, and perhaps if recorded by someone different (ie. credible and ‘trendy’) they could become hits. While there are no ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’s’ on this, Jani always had one of the better singing voices in the whole glam scene, and that has not changed. The heavier songs like Hooked and Back Down To One sadly do not outweigh the poppier stuff so for that reason I’m rating the album slightly lower than I’d have liked.
5.5/10
Suzie