The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack  (Audio CD) 
by Sixx: A.M.

The Heroin Diaries (the soundtrack to Nikki Sixx's addiction memoir of the same name) sounds nothing like the music that catapulted Nikki Sixx into the limelight (and, presumably, the dank and dark underground of addiction) with Mötley Crüe more than 20 years ago. And the music suffers for it. Perhaps Sixx didn't want to romanticize addiction and ill behavior by unleashing a series of rockers that would send fists high in the air and let the spirit, at least for a moment, soar while the listener struggled to better understand the seductive lure of dependence and decadence. (If anyone cares that much--this is rock & roll, after all, and not Oprah.) Instead, Sixx dresses the songs in the trappings of contemporary pop so that "Tomorrow," "Life is Beautiful" and "Accidents Can Happen" sound like lite imitations of the lesser bands that have captured the public's imagination in the wake of the Crüe's inexplicable absence from the recording studio. ("Permission" may even be Sixx's first stab at getting airplay on CMT.) The true rockers, far too slender in number, are half-realized and pallid; the lyrics are overly diaristic (yes) and fail to live up to Sixx's vintage street sophistication ("Dancing on Glass" and "Kickstart My Heart"). The Heroin Diaries comes off more like an affectless pity party than a walk on the wild side. --Jedd Beaudoin