0075678331428. Pre-Owned: Good condition. CD. Devil Without a Cause was so good it caused everybody to re-evaluate Kid Rock including Rock himself. As he prepped a follow-up he unleashed The History of Rock a hodgepodge of new songs unreleased tunes demos old cuts and re-recordings. This not only bought the Kid time it gave him a chance to revamp a past that was bordering on the seriously lame. According to The History Rock always knew what he was doing. Anyone that s heard The Polyfuze Method knows that s not the case but that s the beauty of The History since the early stuff now sounds of a piece with Devil. It isn t nearly as good but it has some of the same thrills since his band hits harder and funkier than any of its rap-rock peers and Rock now has a fully cultivated persona. Still the songs just aren t here. Apart from the Get Out of Denver rewrite Born 2 B a Hick Early Mornin Stoned Pimp 3 Sheets to the Wind and maybe the Skynyrd-aping Prodigal Son the older recordings are still clumsy something the new song American Bad Ass is not. A shameless slab of self-mythology where the former Bob Ritchie calls out tag lines from Devil and places himself in the company of Seger the Beasties and No-Show Jones all to a sample of Metallica s Sad but True it s cool more or less but not as monumental as Bawitdaba which had true wit original riffs and a sense of purpose. But once you ve worn out Devil and you need a new fix you re not going to find it on the older Kid Rock albums -- you re going to find it here. It s not a great listen but its swagger and white-trash style make it the second-best record in his catalog to date. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine Rovi