The second installment of Defiance -- a two-part project delivered in two separate years -- arrived in time for Record Store Day 2024 but its cast of characters makes it clear that Ian Hunter had this album in the can for quite a while. The late Jeff Beck plays alongside his latter-day bandmate Johnny Depp on "The 3rd Rail" and Taylor Hawkins -- the Foo Fighters rocker who died unexpectedly in the summer of 2022 -- is all over the record, playing drums on a good chunk of it. They aren't the only superstars paying tribute to Hunter, either. Most of Cheap Trick back him up on the thumping "Kettle of Fish," Chris Robinson and Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes give "Needle Park" a bluesy swagger available on the RSD edition of the record, Lucinda Williams duets on the ballad "What Would I Do Without You," Benmont Tench stops by a few times, Brian May plays some guitar, Robert De Leo and Dean De Leo of Stone Temple Pilots ramble through "Weed," and Def Leppard's Joe Elliott and Phil Collen both sing harmonies. Despite all these guest stars, Defiance, Pt. 2: Fiction is recognizably an Ian Hunter record, filled with barbed rockers, wry commentary, and unabashedly sentimental ballads. Unlike such fine latter-day Hunter albums like Shrunken Heads, there's not a driving theme behind Defiance, but there doesn't need to be. The fact that Hunter can sound this tuneful, sharp, and engaged when he's well into his eighties is a triumph worth celebrating. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine