It always pays to approach a solo album by a drummer from a popular rock band with a certain amount of trepidation. They can occasionally be amazing, eclectic collections of music like the brilliant Charlie Watts/Jim Keltner Project. Or they could just be like Peter Criss’ KISS solo album…

Travis Barker has always had far wider tastes in music than his day job as drummer in pop punk band Blink 182 may suggest, so an eclectic solo debut should be on the cards.

Pulling out a heavyweight line up of Hip Hop guests (Pharrell, Busta Rhymes, Snoop Dogg,  Cypress Hill and Lupe Fiasco) to take care of vocals, Barker’s Give The Drummer Some also pulls in a number of rock guitarists (most notably Slash and Tom Morello) to fill out the sound.

And it almost works for an entire album. But not quite.

While Give The Drummer Some credibly reinforces the claim that a live drummer brings a lot to Hip Hop, the sparse arrangements – no doubt done purposely to emphasise that this is a drummer’s album – wear thin after a while, leaving everything sounding a bit same-y.

It’s not terrible, but not quite as interesting as the artist roster would suggest. It’s kind of like one of those soundtrack albums where a bunch of big artists collaborate to create something not quite as good as they would do individually.

Rating: 2.5/5

It’s only okay…