The earmark of any good song is melody and harmony. Even the most popular rap songs have some element of those. Otherwise, the music becomes lost in nothing but a meter and beat. Annie Lennox of the Eurythmics said it best. In her subtle irish accent, she said, "If you cannot play the song with just your voice and a single guitar or piano, you don't have a song." Every song on this album can be played on one instrument.
I like this song, "Prostitute," for everything in it. The lyrics are stunning and beautiful. Mr. Rose is singing in his own voice, a quality as good and true as that of Geoff Tate (Queensryche.) And, like Tate and Halford, he knows the impact and value of mixing melody with baritone and tenor. When Judas Priest first came out, Halford sang around high A and C all the time. While technically amazing, it made the songs sound similar. Later, he learned to work the whole range, which provides emotional impact, saving the highs for accent and "spice," if you will. For example, JP's "Another Thing Coming" is sung mostly in the middle to upper baritone, a range most any one can manage, with accents above high A.
Anyway, with "Prostitute," you have mastery, just as evident on the other tracts, of how to truly convey emotion through music. What people might call an alternative rock beat at the beginning is essentially a modification of military cadence from a drum and fife section. What gets me in a good way is that this song has three sections. A and B, with B being kind of a bridge, and C being the break. Anyway, the transition from A to B is heralded by a double kick on the bass drums that surprises me every time like a punch in the gut. I like it and it marks a transition, much like the way everyone hangs on to the drum transition on "In the Air" by Genesis. Or the drum transition in "I Remember You" by Skid Row.
Add to the drum transition of drums from A to B the full pedal assault of the guitars into a I - III - IV progression and it is very powerful, indeed.
It, like many others, is a "perfect" song yet with that unmistakable GnR stamp on it.
