Nope, as another scribe asked, we are not turning into ‘Classic Rock’ although at the moment it does seem a bit like it. All of a sudden we are getting lots of music in this style coming in; perhaps it’s due to the summer as on the whole it is rather happy stuff. Although it would probably be wrong to say that any of us absolutely love this sort of style it is easy enough to review and some of us are old enough to remember it first time around (well almost) and others are happy to take their turn, this is however a metal site and what the PR companies and the readers get out of it I am not quite sure. The problem I have with this sort of music is the fact that it is ‘classic,’ in other words it is nothing that we have not heard a million times before. There is nothing original about classic rock and if there were it would not in itself be classic! So one can press play on an album like this and know exactly what to get.
In the case of these seven rockers from Tonbridge UK via Arkansas USA (not really) they are neither good nor bad as the album suggests, or indeed ugly (well the press picture is small so will give the benefit of the doubt), however as far as this one is concerned I am wholly indifferent. 13 songs and 55 minutes stretch my acceptability levels especially as on first number ‘Voodoo Lover’ (that is an original but what a cliché) I instantly decide that singer Simon Savage is a bit too on the high nasally side for me. The Southern Rock style is at the forefront here, the biog had mentioned the usual suspects from Skynyrd, to ZZ Top and Molly Hatchet and there is no deviation from where they are coming from. A slight lack of oomph is made up for on some songs by the apparently young Sam Woods (no relation), his ivory tinkling on numbers like ‘Bad Bob’ put the ahem Squeeze on things and up the tempo. I am also beginning to settle in and not dislike vocals so much, in fact there are times I am reminded of Marc Bolan.
The main problem I have here is that the music just does not really engage me, it is a bit on the bland side and before I know it a load of songs have simply passed me by. Snapping back to the task in hand I am now on ‘Devil’s Daughter’ which honky-tonks down a dusty road and boogies on down. It’s a barn dance, hoe-down of a song and the upbeat nature is hard to dislike. ‘Senor de la Fuga,’ takes us down Mexico way and ‘Going Down South,’ well you get the picture but I don’t think they were meaning Tonbridge, Kent it’s a far way from Kentucky. I am sure the guitar lines on ‘Hey Baby’ being reminiscent of Echo Beach (Martha And The Muffins, classic) are purely unintentional but when it comes to ‘Mrs Banker’ there is some pure Ziggy Stardust worship going down.
All in all, there’s not much left to say here. If you are a fan of the genre this will probably be an enjoyable enough listen and with the bbq fired up and some cold ones on ice it will be a harmless and no doubt acceptable way of passing an hour.
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