Rusty Reid’s latest single “Piece of the Action” comes straight off his resurrected double album The Unreasonables, that was originally recorded over four decades ago and then left shelved, collecting dust, memory, and a bit of myth. Now restored and released, the album captures a moment in time when Reid and a tight Houston band were chasing pure rock-and-roll impulse, with no politics, no philosophy, or introspection. Just desire, swagger, and the little messes love makes along the way.
“Piece of the Action” leans unapologetically into that raw spirit. The first thing that hits is the riff is a grinding loop of the gritty guitar, like it’s been sweat-smoothened in some neon-lit bar where the band plays face-to-face with the crowd. The drums keep a steady, almost stalking beat, driving things forward without rushing. The vocal slides in with a deep, confident ease. He’s playing cool, but absolutely on the prowl.
The lyrics sketch the moment that rock has always worshipped with late-night glances, shifting lights, two people circling each other with intent already understood. Reid doesn’t overcomplicate it. He keeps the language physical, rhythmic, and transactional, because that’s exactly the point. This isn’t romance as metaphor; it’s chemistry, proximity, and hunger turned into melody. Except the hook-up is being euphemised as a transaction of LOVE itself on the premise of being “lonely,” but whatever works when you got to get someone to return home with, right?
And then Rick Poss’s guitar solo lands to get you rolling your eyes, dreaming of the “action” he’s talking of.
This is rock from a time when rock didn’t apologize. So “Piece of the Action” is just spinning the wheel hard enough to feel something again.
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Review by: Naomi Joan