Reinvigorated by leading his own band, Mike Campbell kept going with the Dirty Knobs, and had another album in the can before long. External Combustion continued to deliver on the established brand, though he did take the step of including his name along with the band to improve recognition. The guy can write riffs all day long, and they drive the better songs, beginning with “Wicked Mind”. Unfortunately he’s got big shoes to fill in the lyrical department, as his old boss likely would have polished “Brigitte Bardot” better. “Cheap Talk” goes unexpected places with its nightmare strings and coos from Margo Price—some backwards—under its main riff. Speaking of which, the title track has a spidery one that always seems like it’s playing with tempo, and pays off on the coda where it just spirals around everywhere. Ian Hunter guests on “Dirty Job”, both on piano and raspy vocals, and Margo more clearly duets on “State Of Mind”, and while there are strings again, the Memphis-style horns take it to a better place.
Benmont Tench smacks the ivories on the mostly routine “Lightning Boogie”, but the changes in the chorus are unexpected. We’re assuming that’s other guitarist Jason Sinay singing a verse on “Rat City”, and again on “It Is Written”; frankly, he should sing more. Both songs seem to be social commentary, but get derailed into grateful love lyrics, yet still catchy. In between, “In This Lifetime” is built around quiet harmonics, the likes of which we haven’t heard from Campbell since the mid-‘80s, and is a welcome change of pace. Because he had years to learn how to sequence albums, “Electric Gypsy” ends the program as strong as it started.
In the end, External Combustion is simply a fun album with lots of guitars. It isn’t a masterpiece, and isn’t supposed to be. We’re just glad he’s playing.
Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs External Combustion (2022)—3
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