Given the backlash afforded to Paul McCartney for featuring a video of Johnny Depp in his Glastonbury set – despite Depp winning his recent high-profile defamation case against ex-wife Amber Heard – you might imagine it’s still a touch too soon for the sometime-Hollywood Vampires guitarist to be relaunching his music career. Yet here he is, crossing fretboards with ex-Yardbird Jeff Beck on the collaborative album that he famously missed the court ruling to tour. We can only presume that, having heard the record, Depp knew his music career was finished anyway, so what the hell.
It's hard to imagine the level of intoxication and/or self-delusion that convinces someone that a record this weak would be a grand comeback statement. It’s tough enough to find any coherent purpose to it, beyond facile Hollywood back-slappery. Three of the record’s 11 – eleven – incongruous covers, seemingly selected by lobbing darts at a Spotify genre cloud, involve Beck showcasing his sub-Dave Gilmour, cruise ship guitar work by playing the vocal lines on instrumental takes of Davy Spillane’s “Midnight Walker” and a couple of Beach Boys tunes.
