Mitch Ryder: “The Roof Is On Fire” (2024) CD Review

Mitch Ryder continues to rock well into his seventies. He says that when it comes to music, age is irrelevant, and he proves that with every performance. I saw him perform in 2017, and he was fantastic. I remember that day he did a cool, bluesy rendition of “Many Rivers To Cross” that surprised me. Well, earlier this year he released a two-disc live album titled The Roof Is On Fire, and it includes that song as well as some other excellent covers and original songs. This release contains performances from early 2019 and early 2020 in Germany. The band backing him includes Gisbert “Pitti” Piatkowski on guitar and backing vocals, Heiner Witte on guitar and backing vocals, Manne Pokrandt on bass and backing vocals, Tobias Ridder on drums and backing vocals, Wolfram “Boddi” Bodag on keys and backing vocals, and Rene Decker on keys and saxophone and backing vocals. Both Bodag and Decker also plays harmonica.

Disc 1

The first disc is labeled “Tuff” on the CD case, and it opens with “Betty’s Too Tight,” a seriously fun and energetic original rock song that Mitch Ryder included on his Got Change For A Million? LP, which came out in 1981. This recording comes from 2020, and it contains some excellent work on both guitar and keys. And Mitch Ryder is on top of things. Just listen as he delivers lines like “On the couch, I lost my nerve/She gave me all I deserve/Please relieve me.” The band keeps the energy high with “Tough Kid,” another original song, this one having been included on the 1978 album How I Spent My Vacation. Immediately there is some great stuff on guitar, and then keys before Mitch comes in on vocals. And when he does come in, a little over a minute in, the band seems to take on more power. In part, it’s that wonderful stuff on harmonica, that instrument starts howling when he comes in. And it’s also the attitude in his delivery. “Home’s a dump, your neighbors all hate your guts.” And somehow this one seems to grow in power as it goes. This track is a highlight. It comes from a show he did in 2019.

The first cover of the disc is Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” and this version has a strong groove, the band rocking the song and jamming on it between verses. Mitch Ryder then returns to original material with “Bang Bang,” which was included on Got Change For A Million? and features some delicious work on drums. “Here come the soldiers with weapons of war/Dragging the flag to even the score/Across the planet these little men kill.” And listen to the passion in his voice as he sings, “Bang bang, someone, someone I love is dead/God kick their asses good, send them all to bed.” He follows that with “Ain’t Nobody White,” an original song from his 1980 album Naked But Not Dead, and another track to feature some good work on guitar. “Some folks got, some have not/There’s no fixed set of rules/In the rush, don’t step on any fools.” This track also features a really good bass line.

The last three tracks on the first disc are covers, beginning with “Tuff Enuff,” a song that was a hit for The Fabulous Thunderbirds in 1986. Mitch Ryder delivers a great rendition. This track features some fun stuff on harmonica, and there is a cool section where the harmonica and guitar do a little back-and-forth. That’s followed by the disc’s second Bob Dylan song, “From A Buick 6,” which begins with some nice stuff on keys, and soon becomes a groovy, bluesy rendition. I love Mitch Ryder’s approach to this song, and the way he stresses certain lines, such as “If I go down dying, she bound to put a blanket on my bed, on my bed, on my bed.” And there is more good stuff on harmonica. The final song on the first disc is a wonderful cover of The Rolling Stones’ “Heart Of Stone.” He lets the audience take the song’s title line the first time. There is a cool instrumental section in the middle, featuring harmonica, which leads to the audience joining him on a vocal part.

Disc 2

The second disc is labeled “Soft” on the CD case, and it opens with “Freezin’ In Hell,” a song from How I Spent My Vacation. The band eases in, developing a good blues groove and vibe. That guitar work in that opening section has a timeless feel. When Mitch Ryder comes in, his vocals have a more intimate, smooth sound. “I want to love you like I said I could/I’m just not ready to fall.” This is such a cool track, and is another of my personal favorites. It is followed by “All The Fools It Sees,” a song from his 2008 album You Deserve My Art. This one has a rather beautiful vibe as it begins. And we hear the ache in his voice as he sings the very first line, “I cried last night over you.” And his performance only becomes more moving from there. This track also features some excellent work on guitar, particularly during that instrumental section in the second half. Mitch Ryder follows that with “If You Need The Pain,” the lead track from his 2006 release The Acquitted Idiot (an album title I love), and another that is moving.  “You know it will kill you to go on this way/You trust the word love and so you stay.”

Mitch Ryder delivers a really good rendition of “Many Rivers To Cross,” which is much more bluesy than Jimmy Cliff’s original recording. He included this on a 2019 album The Blind Squirrel Finds A Nut, which I somehow missed when it came out. That same year he put out another album Detroit Breakdown, which I did get. Anyway, he sounds completely emotionally connected to this song in this rendition, which is from a concert he performed in 2019. That’s followed by another song from The Acquitted Idiot, “Star Nomore.” “I want to go home/Not doing too well out here alone/The road has been so hard so long,” he sings at the beginning of this original number. And we hear the weariness, the ache in his voice. The music is steady, as if to work to help him keep going. This track features some nice work on saxophone before the end, a companion to him out on the road.

“Red Scar Eyes” is the album’s final original song. It comes from Got Change For A Million? and begins with a good instrumental section setting the mood. And it’s a great choice to follow “Star Nomore,” for in that previous song he sings, “I swear I know for sure/Can’t be a star anymore,” and in this one he sings, “I’m a star, I’m a star,” with an interesting delivery, that line coming as it does soon after this line: “Going to rip his head off, keep it in a jar.” And we get a dubious sense of what it means to be a star. The guitar then speaks for him. “I wasn’t born happy, never could stand in the sun/I broke my woman, it’s the worst thing I’ve ever done.” The album then comes to a close with a cover of The Doors’ “Soul Kitchen” (as The Doors themselves closed out their Absolutely Live! album). Here the band stretches out, easing into the song, which features some wonderful back-and-forth on guitar and saxophone before Mitch even comes in. And Mitch delivers a strong, nuanced performance. The band jams on this song (the track is sixteen minutes long), and there is an excellent lead on saxophone halfway through. Mitch Ryder introduces the band in the second half.

CD Track List

Disc 1

1. Betty’s Too Tight
2. Tough Kid
3. Subterranean Homesick Blues
4. Bang Bang
5. Ain’t Nobody White
6. Tuff Enuff
7. From A Buick 6
8. Heart Of Stone

Disc 2

1. Freezin’ In Hell
2. All The Fools It Sees
3. If You Need The Pain
4. Many Rivers To Cross
5. Star Nomore
6. Red Scar Eyes
7. Soul Kitchen

The Roof Is On Fire was released on January 26, 2024 on Ruf Records.