Michael Christopher "Ike" Reilly (born December 27, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and writer as well as frontman and founder of the rock band the Ike Reilly Assassination. He started his music career with various rock bands near his hometown of Libertyville, Illinois, playing guitar for groups such as The Drovers in the late 1980s. After working for a time in music production, in 2001 he released his debut solo album through Universal Records.
Afterwards, Reilly released several albums with The Ike Reilly Assassination, including the well-received Sparkle in the Finish in 2004, through Rock Ridge Music. He released his eighth album of solo material, Crooked Love, in May 2018. According to Mario Mesquita Borges of Allmusic, "Reilly has followed a trail separate from most of today's singer/songwriters -- unlike other such artists, Reilly prefers the harshness of intrepid rocking riffs, sustained by ingenious melodies and exalting words." David Carr of the New York Times said: "Ike Reilly is a kind of natural resource, mined from the bedrock of music. All the values that make rock important to people—storytelling, melody, rage, laughter—are part and parcel of every Ike Reilly show I have ever seen."
The first song has an Fun Lovin' Criminals vibe, after that it is more straight rock. The songs are ok, not great. The production is not always very balanced and clean, but it captures the drive of the band. If the songs and performance wouldn't have this unbelievable drive and spirit, I would consider this a subpar, middle of the road and uninteresting album. Now it is a nice album to listen to.
Tough call on this one, never heard of these guys before and this LP was a tossup between a 2 and a 3. The band seems pulled in way too may directions (bluegrass harmonica? straight 90s alt rock?) for this album to feel cohesive, and the vocals tested my patience more than a few times when they tended whiny and repetitive. There are a few standout tracks, though, where the band gets it together and creates some sold aughts indie like 'Girl In Me.' Going with a 3, despite its flaws I enjoyed a slight majority of tracks on the album, and it's always nice to see a new (to me and the user list) artist highlighted.
This was really very good, for pretty straight ahead rock and roll, in the Petty/Springsteen vein with a rougher edge. Never heard of this person before, and it sounds like that's kind of par for their career, which seems like a real shame. Definitely will look for more.
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