Posts tagged Blues
Powerage Records Tour 2011 @ Camden Underworld
Apr 2nd
24th February 2012
Tonight was a night to savour. A Free show @ Camden Underworld hosted by the cracking Classic Rock magazine associated record label Powerage. Not only is it free entry, but the lineup is packed with 4 top quality bands who Powerage have signed the finest rock and roll the UK has to offer, bringing it all together on one stage tonight.
The first band up was the Northern Irish Hard Rock Quintet Million Dollar Reload.
Million Dollar Reload
Their pumped up rock anthems were just the ticket to get the night kicked off as they ran though a swift but impact making set. They had a slightly punkier edge to them which invigorated the already quite sozzled crowd. Vocals were tough to make out at first but slowly the balance settled and we were treated to huge chorus’s and sleazy rhymes from Phil Conalane’s extremeley talented and versatile vocal chords. The man’s pipes are wondrous and he flipped back and forth from incredibly fluent high speed lyrics to semi-falsetto’d throaty roars. Highlights of their set included the chorus busting Give It Up, all out rocker Superslave and the punky American sing-along riot of Goodnight New York.
The Treatment
It’s a rare band who can capture my rock and roll heart with such ease and style, it’s safe to say The Treatment managed it in just half an hour of youthful exuberance. Their bluesy hard rock was more glam pop in orientated, with a much more radio friendly lead singer armed with an outstanding high note and enough growl in him to still cut it with the rock crowds. In fact this was the biggest and most energetic crowd of the night as they played the highlights from their self titled debut album.
Baby brother Rox
Songs such as the tight Ac/Dc riffing on The Doctor, huge chant-a-long I Want Love, the super infectious melodies of Shake The Mountain and the turbo-charged adrenaline shot guitar assault of Departed. These guys didn’t let up for one minute as their unrelenting onslaught of stunningly catchy Hard Rock tunes had me totally addicted. So confident in their melodies, they are able to slow down the tempo and try some emotive high-note bending balladry on Nothing To Lose. With such strong vocals and non-soppy lyrics…it works! Above all else this performance has showcased their extreme talent at producing brilliantly catchy rock and roll, a band not to be missed.
Matt ‘Tyler’ Jones
It’s true they are not so original, put if the idea of putting Steve Tyler in a room with Malcom Young takes your fancy? Its clear all you need is The Treatment. The fact their drummer’s father is the former manager of ‘gone but not forgotten’ UK rockers Roadstar only makes me love them even more. (Btw. I have overlooked the fact that their bassist is an incredibly annoying short-short-short-arse! You can’t have it all I guess!)
Sadly as The Treatment exited, so did 50% of the crowd. It seemed as if all this free music wasn’t as attractive a prospect as having a good nights kip! The DoesItRock crew didn’t need persuading to stick about, although we didn’t really get on with the next band Lethargy.
Lethargy
They were more focused in the heavy spectrum and the low notes of the guitar, thundering out some cracking bass and fuzz soaked booming riffs. Yet the dreadlocked vocalist/bassist wasn’t quite up to scratch given what had just blitzed the stage. Plus they were a slight anomaly amongst the line-up, the flagging enthusiasm from the crowd reflecting this! No surprises then that this set fell by the wayside for us.
Last but not least came a band who have impressed us here in the Underworld before, New Device. It was slightly disappointing to see that the thriving crowd had not returned post-lethargy, but not to be outdone New Device took up the hard rock baton, pasted it with melody and vigor before streaking towards a triumphant finish.
New Device
While they lacked the attitude of Million $ Reload and the chaotic energy of The Treatment, their hard rock was Bon Jovi-esque melody focused that was truly stadium worthy. Highly strung verses were backed with stratospheric choruses sung with utter conviction and a fiery intent! With only one guitarist, New Device make up for their lack of kerranging walls of power chords with cutting licks and catchy ass solo’s. Confined in this small underground space songs like the big thumping rhythms of Make My Day and mega ballad In The Fading Light feel caged as they bustle and wriggle to be released from these walls.
Daniel Leigh
Despite their pop orientation, they show they can still kick it in the hard rock arena with stonking metal opening of On Fire, down tuned riffing Never Say Never and album title track Takin’ Over! Returning for a swift acoustic encore underlined their accessibility as the most mainstream of the tonight’s line-up. With performances like this it may not be too long before it’s their turn to break through!
Acoustic Time
An astonishingly superb lineup drove this free night of live rock destined for big things.
Power to Powerage Records!!!!
Albums of 2010: 10-1
Dec 30th
It’s time to complete the countdown of DoesItRock.nets favourite albums of 2010…
10) Volbeat – Beyond Hell/Above Heaven
Volbeat are absolutely adept at churning out those huge chorus’s you wished all stadium rock bands could write. They could easily out Jovi the Bon, take the Iron to the Maiden, and shoot down the Foo’s with such a polished set of outstanding soaring rock tracks as collated on Beyond Hell/Above Heaven. If Metallica were born in, started life as a rockabilly band who decided to write an album full of Enter Sandman’s you’ll get close to the latest offering from Volbeat. A stunning set of exuberant heavy metal tunes destined for huge crowds!
9) Danko Jones – Below The Belt
This hardworking, hard rocking trio from Canada have been plying their big guitar fuelled, booze soaked punk leaning, classic rock inspired party for many years now. This is their X release and it is a barnstorming riot of riffs, big dumb rock ‘n’ roll lyrics and glorious melodies. Although they have veered closer to the mainstream before with many tunes being unfound rock radio classics, this is no bad thing for a band who have yet to accept they are damn good at writing them. When they channel their unhinged love for rock and metal into a killer melody, there really isn’t a better band on the planet right now. If you don’t mind big macho lyrics, bigger guitars and huge rock soul, Below The Belt is for you!
8) The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster – Blood & Fire
“The sound of a blues nightmare running wild, waking up the neighbourhood using a Marshall powered megaphone”, is how best to describe 80′s Matchbox B-Line Disasters sound on their latest album. Being away for a while has clearly put fire in their bellies as they come romping straight at the jugular from the very start of Blood & Fire. The pace very rarely relents and their blues rock factory, churns out fuzzed up riffs with Chinese manufacturing efficiency. A blazing album from start to finish!
7) Kvelertak – Kvelertak
Norwegian Black Metal anyone? Given this tagline I was very tentative about listening to this but I’m so glad I did. Sung in their native tongue none of the lyrics make sense, but neither does most metal sung in English! The sound is more akin to Motorhead than Mayhem with the driving speed of hardcore punk with some technically stunning guitars and emphasis on melodic hooks big enough to land Moby Dick. There are so many riffs packed into each song it is a blizzard of high intensity Scandinavian power coming straight through the speakers. Definitely the hardest hitting album on our countdown. So if you fancy getting knocked over by a thrilling lesson in all out rock and roll, check out the blazing Kvelertak.
6) Fang Island – Fang Island
This self titled album from this arty indie band is a work of unrelenting happiness, exquisite harmonies and storming guitars. Fang Island have managed to fuse so many different influences and still come out with a coherent and ecstatic album packed with mainly instrumental works of genius. Their sound is the most eclectic on the countdown by far, which collates such intensity of exuberant melodies and gang vocals that it’s hard not to love. Sure the lack of vocals could be off-putting, but with a heavily effect driven triple guitar attack tutored at the Thin Lizzy school of soloing, it is as good and different an indie rock guitar album you are ever likely to hear!
5) Birds of Tokyo – Birds of Tokyo
Birds of Tokyo are alternative rock heavyweights from Australia who were formed in collaboration with Prog giants Karnivool. Their latest self titled album is their most poppy but also is the most consistent. Loaded with great lyrics and a progressive rock feel to many pop tracks, grandeur and awe is never far away. Vocals are just perfect, never overbearing but soulful and beautiful throughout. It is hard not to enjoy such a sweepingly brilliant album which flows from soaring piano melodies to big rock chords with ease. A superb album from one of Australia’s best bands.
4) Superchunk – Majesty Shredding
Superchunk’s hugely overlooked comeback album after a 9 year hiatus was one of the most fun, playful and enjoyable albums of the year. Despite the bands years, this album still sounds youthful and full of wide eyed adolescent energy. Lyrics on Majesty Shredding are equally as jovial as their bouncable up-tempo tunes which are weighed down by innumerable cracking vocal harmonies, guitars are never overbearing but always fit the mood perfectly. A consistently great record full of many high points, a welcome return from Superchunk.
3) Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
A token entry for an indie-pop album in a rock/metal list, The Suburbs swayed wistfully into contention with it’s fancy lyrics and breezy pace set by the yellow jackets of Modern Man, Rococo, City With No Children, Suburban War, Wasted Hours, while occasionally sprinting off with punk-song Month of May when some of the other songs weren’t looking. In a year they headlined the main stage at Reading and Leeds Festivals, surely they can’t carry on fooling people into thinking they are an indie band anymore and not the full-blown pop monster we know they really are. To be honest, you’ve probably spat your coffee out and are trying to clean up your keyboard after seeing Arcade Fire appear in the same list as Volbeat and Kvelertak, so it’s probably best you just move along and pretend this didn’t happen – MF.
2) Pulled Apart By Horses – Pulled Apart By Horses
A debut album reached #2 on the countdown with this offering from Leeds Alt-Metal saviours PABH. They play loud and hard, fast and tight, shouty and noisy, each element combining to form superb rock and roll. While they have gathered their reputation from their blistering live shows (one of which blew us away at Camden Crawl), their debut LP is almost as intense an experience full of energy and potency from the first spin. Yet despite their raging noise rock, they are surprisingly accessible (I even spotted a track on Radio 1). Vocals have a clean nature to them despite veering into venomous howls on occasion and the barrage of guitars are slow and big enough for the Sabbath fans. The quality here is impeccable and with barely a dud in there this makes PABH our runner-up of 2010.
1) Foxy Shazam – Foxy Shazam
It was a suprise selection at number 1 this year, but put simply Foxy Shazam’s third album is a totally unique and uplifting pop record which swings from glamtastic Darkness-esque guitar genius to queen-like pop magnificence with bundles of catchy melodies, rousing chorus’ and alternative rock eclectic-ness. The strength of the album is in its consistency. It really is packed with great pop tunes which collectively flow like the soundtrack to the greatest party you haven’t been to. Seriously underrated and overlooked, Foxy Shazam’s screwball tunes are always infectious, never dull and retain the ability to showcase the crazier side of life…one which their explosive live shows exhibits perfectly. I have returned to this time and time again, it hasn’t yet failed to raise the spirits!
Roll on 2011!
Honerable Metions: Voodoo Johnson – 10,000 Days, Wolf Parade – Expo 86, FACT – In The Blink of an Eye,
Click here for the top 25 as a Spotify Paylist >> DoesItRock Albums of 2010
Albums of 2010: 25-11
Dec 29th
It really doesn’t feel like a year since I started writing the Best of lists for 2009, but that time has arrived. There have been plenty of good albums but in our hearts, very few have been elevated to classic status. Instead of the usual critic’s lists who are each trying to out scene each other, I have tried to reflect the DiR.net’s team listening habits, detailing what we like to listen to, rather than what’s cool to listen to. Free from any prejudices, it is now time to run down the albums which have rocked our collective socks in 2010…let the countdown begin!
25) Airbourne – No Guts? No Glory!
AcDc were busy touring this year, so winners of Australian Hard Rock album of 2010 goes to their sound-a-like’s Airbourne for their hit packed sophomore album.
24) Voodoo Six – Fluke?
London based hard rockers live up to the expectation and deliver a fiery collection of stratospheric rock, thumping guitars and killer hooks.
23) Joe Satriani – Wormhole Wizards
The king of guitar returns with a more relaxed feel to his latest LP. It is crowded with inventive guitar brilliance with his distinctive melody first approach, and incredible emotive string bends. A high standard throughout makes this a vast improvement on his last LP.
22) Paul Gilbert – Fuzz Universe
Guitar virtuoso Paul Gilbert shows off his melodic side on his latest release which is packed with instrumental glory, super shredding and genius composition.
21) Slash – Slash
The worlds most recognised guitarist enlisted his friends and came up with a great collection of singles, but collectively the album varies to wildly to enter into our top 20.
20) Far – At Night We Live
On one hand the Deftones are breaking new ground taking alt-metal noise to massive critical acclaim, while lying low on the other is Far, a more pop-centric, accessible offering who have crafted a thumping album of big emotion and thudding alt-rock. Far’s return is triumphant and damn impressive as warped guitar effects plough a hugely melodic shaped hole into their truly huge bass licks, all backed with Jonah Matrangah‘s slickly produced vocals provide the lyrical clout. The mood is generally a dark cloud, but when the thunder strikes it’s when they are at their best. Slow building atmospheric guitars and skyward floating vocals are mixed in with more riff hungry tracks create a superbly balanced record.
19) Weezer – Hurley
This album has split the doesitrock.net crew down the middle (review), but it has still made the top albums list by the skin of its teeth. The high points on the album are undeniably catchy if somewhat idiosyncratic, but then this is what Weezer do best of late. Plenty of cracking pop tunes and songs about little or nothing, line the somewhat oddly titled Hurley. With their 2nd B-Sides collection release this year (Death To False Metal) also being a corking album, far greater than the sum of its parts, Weezer have clearly turned a corner and are running back with Linford like speed!
18) Against Me! – White Crosses
The backlash against this release was swift and rather unfair in my opinion. Sure Against Me! may have sold out to the majors and gone all pop leaving their trail of destruction sniggering at what they have become. But taken on its merits (that’s pop-rock), this is a heavyweight ready to take on all comers and most probably win! Writing anthemic rock songs more akin to Springsteen than the Dropkicks, are their staple, and they do this incredibly well. Always full of heart and sung with conviction though road worn vocal chords White Crosses is jammed with superb, quality upbeat rock and roll songs with a (somewhat diluted) punk heart.
17) Taking Dawn – Time To Burn
These Las Vegas, roadrunner backed heavy metal rockers have managed to create an 80′s influenced set of hard rock packed with immense riffs and towering melodies. Each track kick starts with a blistering guitar lick which takes hold and doesn’t let go. Vocals are stadium sized and perfectly compliment each athemic chorus. If you appreciate glammed up metal, a good guitar workout and a rock and roll swagger, Time To Burn is your answer.
16) Carpark North – Lost
Somehow this album has missed the mainstream, the radio and seemingly everyone’s attention which is absolutely criminal. Lost is a superbly crafted album which showcases what can be achieved if euro-electro pop is done properly. With driving guitars and spiralling electro beats providing the atmospheric backdrop it’s the synths hooks and warm vocals which take centre stage. Literally littered with cracking little pop tunes to rival the big guns, it’s time a little light was shone on this underappreciated band.
15) The Pineapple Thief – Someone Here Is Missing
Prog is so often seen as the joys of the middle aged man, or those with long beards who re=un the local war re-enactment society. The Pineapple Thief’s latest album is out to change this, as they seamlessly meld electro beats, cruising guitars and haunting vocals into a brilliantly flowing album. With few overindulgent guitar solo’s and extended jams, most songs are highly catchy and full of understated beauty. Variety is key here, with tracks featuring dreamy acoustics, bold electro-rock explosions, fleeting ambient melodies, melancholic vocals and noisy guitars outbursts. This is one to listen end-to-end in a world dominated by the shuffle button.
14) The Sword – Warp Riders
Hard Rock has seen a good year with plenty of great releases. The Sword sit atop of this tree proudly with Warp Riders, a sci-fi epic of stellar proportions. This album is about as riff hungry as they come with wall to wall guitars and pounding bass. The adept classic rock soloing shows outstanding ability and a raft of ingenious melodies. It sways to the borders of Prog rock but before tipping over, a thundering power chord is on hand to rescue it. A thumping collection of Hard Rock, played by southern rock’s shining light of 2010.
13) Jim Jones Revue – Burning Down Your House
Listening to Burning Down Your House, transports you back to the 50′s and the bar room blues of Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard. The Jim Jones Revue have rolled back the clocks and ignored the past 60 years of musical development, playing fully cranked, high octane, scuzzed up blues bonanza. There really isn’t that much here in terms of musicality, but when music sounds this fun it’s hard to ignore. Big bluesy shuffles and bolstered piano tinkling sung by a crazed MC is instantly alluring, addictive and rock n’ rolling!
12) Blood Command – Ghostclocks
Scandinavia’s Blood Command are a breath of fresh air. Never did we realise that we needed a female fronted frenzied alt-metal behemoth with a slice of pop sweetness…but clearly on this form, we most definitely do. Taking a a lightly watered down Blood Brothers formula and adding immensely catchy melodies in amongst their rapid-fire spiky riffing, not forgetting a side order of Norwegian dance-pop Blood Command have melded a superb sound. Flailing from all out metal guitar assaults to mid-tempo riff rock Ghostclocks is never boring and totally essential for 2010!
11) Motion City Soundtrack – My Dinosaur Life
Welcome return from the pick of the US Pop Punk bands who stand head and shoulders above their peers. My Dinosaur Life showcases once again great song writing, jubilant chorus’s and incessant melodies. This album harks back more closely to their guitar driven debut album which can only be a good thing, plus with plenty of corking singles lining the playlist, It strolled effortlessly into the end-of year list despite being released almost a year ago.
Stay tuned for the top 10 tomorrow!
Download Festival, Day Three
Aug 30th
The final day was upon us all to quickly as we were late for our opening band. But luckily for us we could hear them from about a mile away so not all was lost. Finally we arrived for some good old fashioned horse riding, Orc slaying, magical, sword bearing, evil hoard battling chain mail clad Power Metal, in the guise of an Californian band called White Wizzard (what else could they be called?). This fun set was packed with stunning guitar lines and ridiculous lyrics, but hey…it didn’t fail to raise a smile!
White Wizzard
StraightLines stood out on the lineup for being one of the only indie(ish) bands to take stage. So we checked them out and their spritely pop-punk influenced indie rock was upbeat and easy to like. No boundaries being pushed but after all that rock it was nice to listen to some possible future radio hits.
StraightLines
From new to old we travelled back in time to catch one of Britain’s veteran rock acts, the original New Wave of Brititsh Heavy Metal legends, Saxon. Silver haired and rickety bones didn’t stop them from playing in it’s entirety their Wheels of Steel album which was coincidental (as Download itself was) celebrating it’s 25th anniversary. To their credit, it still sounded great all these years later with tunes like the romper-stomper Motorcycle Man, classic era sounding 747 & the thunderous Stand Up & Be Counted. It just goes to prove that, long lives, Rock and Roll!
Saxon
We reviewed TAB the Band‘s album Zoo Noises back in February, and fell for its Rolling stones-esque swagger and rough bluesy shufflings. Live they were equally as impressive. Strong clean vocals, dual guitar attack and melodies in abundance maintained a real foot-tapper of a performance which made you wanna dance! They may yet step out of the shadow of their father (Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry), if they maintain their energy levels and keep writing great songs!
TAB the Band
Crime In Stereo was the best of a line-up lull, We left after 2 thrashed songs without hint of the English language being sung or any inventive musicality. Heavy…Yes, Tedious…Also!
Crime In Stereo
It wasn’t until we arrived at Cinderella that we regretted leaving CiS. Cinderella epitomise why 80′s rock/metal acquired such a bad reputation. Style over substance, squeaky voiced, piano tinklers with generic power chords and floating melodic guitars were the worst we’d heard all weekend!
Cinderella
Thankfully keeping the classic side of 80′s rock flag waving high and proud was the most recognisable, indistinguishable and one of all times greatest guitar hero’s Slash stepped out onstage to the collective roar of the crowds appreciation. Slash was here for all out crowd pleasing this afternoon as he arrived boasting my favourite rock vocalist of today Myles Kennedy (Altar Bridge) as his bands frontman. Despite having a new solo album out he only played a handful of tracks from it, the slash trademark riffing of Ghost, huge ballads Starlight & Back From Cali, proggy By The Sword. Seeing as Motorhead were playing later it was no great surprise to see Lemmy making a guest appearance on the cracking fast paced riff rocker Dr. Alibi.
Lemmy & Slash
It was with great elation and suprise that Slash devoted half his set to covers from his former-bands output. For me this was simply extraordinary! To see Slash playing Gun n’ Roses covers, all taken from Appetite For Destruction, was an absolute dream come true and the man has not lost a thing, plus Myles also has the perfect voice to do justice to these classic tracks. They played a double whammy of Nightrain and Rocket Queen early set to really stoke up the crowd which was already extremely excited. Not much could put into words my feelings when the first bars of the classic Gn’R song were heard! I absolutely loved every second of it! There was even time to throw the Velvet Revolver song Slither, with ex-frontman Scott Wieland now back with the Stone Temple Pilots, (incidentally) playing later…I can’t help but feel its intention.
Myles Kennedy
To round of a fantastic set of virtuoso guitar and just astounding classic rock,we all watched in awe as we were treated to yet another GnR classic, Paradise City. This performance was up there with the best of my life, let alone best of the festival.
Slash
We stuck around the main stage for a little longer, perching ourselves on the hill to see the some even more classic rock, but this time it was more of the pop variety. We were here for a greatest hit set from Billy Idol and that’s exactly what we got! all the hits were aired including Rebel Yell, Hot In The City, Dancing With Myself & White Wedding. The nice past blast was enough to keep the spirits high despite the rain which was now walling with great vengeance.
Suddenly moving between stages wasn’t quite as easy as the mud wallowed and flowed downhill turning the site into a bog in nearly 30 mins flat! The rain did not dampen my enjoyment of the end of Porpupine Tree’s majestically set of beautifully prog-rock, which can swing from astoundingly harmonious and blisteringly rawkus in one glorious sweep.
Porcupine Tree
Sticking with the Dio stage, we were treated to a right old fashioned 80′s party in the shape of Steel Panther. Their unashamedly 80′s rock was perfect for the damp souls and brought smiles and laughs galore from their outrageous stage persona’s and rampant guitar rock! This was all out fun and they even managed to bring out Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian to play on Asian Hooker as well as debuting their new single I Want It That Way (Yes…The Backstreet Boys one…). It seems also that the side screen cameras were a temporary Motley Cru style titty-cam. Seeing as soon as it flicked to a female audience member, her shirt suddenly went over her head…odd!!
Steel Panther
Enjoying a band in the rain and waiting for one in the rain are 2 very different things! The next 25 minutes of waiting dragged hugely, not helped by the fact that I could feel the water running down the inside my jacket and the cold weather taking hold of me! Still all was quickly forgotten as Ac/Dc’s homage paying countrymen Airbourne arrived onstage. These dude’s have always been a bit nuts, this show only re-inforced this view. They ran riot here in the rain, cracking beer cans open on their head and hitting a relentless barrage of power chords. New album material was good, played with the same manic vigour as their older material, plus they haven’t lost their catchy, fist pumping chorus writing talents.
Just to prove how crazy lead singer Joel O’Keefe really is, I point to the following evidence
Exhibit A) Yes, he has climbed up the stage, in the absolute pouring rain, without any safety equipment, then plays a guitar solo hanging by his legs only 30ft up!
That Really Is A Long Way Down
Exhibit B) Now getting up borderline suicidal, he really had the crowd scared for his welfare, but after more guitar solos from atop of the stage, technians turned his guitar transmitter off, forcing him to come down…vvveeerrrryyy carefully!!!
“It’s A Long Way To The Top…If You Want To Rock And Roll”
Everything after this point pales into insignificance at the stunt just witnessed, by these superb but insane Aussies!
As we headed for the final nights headline act we caught the end of the Stone Temple Pilots performance, needless to say Airbourne was a much better spectacle.
And so to the final band of the weekend, legends of rock Aerosmith, with their flamboyant lead singer Steve Tyler firmly back in the fold doing what he does best. For the third night in a row the headline act has been monumental, tonight was no exception. Tyler freshly re-united with the band after drugs problems was back at his best commanding a huge presence on stage. Joe Perry showed how to play the blues as he played some of the defining riffs of a generation.
Quite aptly the skies cleared and we recovered from the chill by being treated to Classic tracks like Sweet Emotion, Living On The Edge, Eat The Rich & Walk This Way which set the bar sky high. My songs of the night however were the genre spawning Rock-Ballad Dream On complete with perfect Tyler screams, set opener Love In An Elevator complete with Woo-Wooh sing-a-longs plus older gems Draw The Line and a rampaging version of Toys In The Attic which rounded out the show.
As the final amp was powered down with Tyler & Perry exchanging congratulations, we were left in the darkness of the damp field ready for the longest walk of the weekend…the one back home!
Album Review: Slash – Slash
Apr 16th
The most iconic modern guitarist has gone solo, well sort of! He has enlisted the help of a huge number of superstar singers to craft what is one of the finest Hard Rock release of the year so far!
Slash – Slash
RockOSaurus Says:
Slash himself provides the guitar wizardry and his signature sleazy blues, stunning soloing and wah wah inflected mega riffing is stamped firmly over the whole album. Yet far from being a one dimensional release, songs range in styles from his staple classic hard rock to blues, pop, metal, prog and even country.
The guest list of this album reads like a who’s who of both classic, modern rock and pop. It’s these collaborators who have defined the albums style more so that slash himself with each track playing to the strengths of the vocalists. Now this can be seen as either lazy on slash’s behalf or a decision taken to produce the finest album possible with the talent available.
The albums opening riff on Ghost is a typical high squalling Slash product and with The Cults Ian Astbury providing the vocal muscle this sets the tone for a polished, hard rock effort packed with hooky pop choruses.
Fergie’s turn on Beautiful Dangerous work surprisingly well and her sultry voice leading a promiscuous riff and blistering solo. Adam Levine of Maroon 5 leads an understated ballad showing blazing guitars can be scaled back to equally good effect, while By The Sword is a trippy meandering acoustic come hard rocker led very fittingly by Wolfmother’s Andrew Stockdale. There is surprisingly little filler here with only I Hold On with Kid Rock & Chris Cornell led Promise not living up to potential.
Slash is at his best when producing those mammoth rock numbers and the man who compliments him above all else is Alter Bridge frontman Myles Kennedy. This is proven with 2 stunning tracks Back From Cali & Starlight both infected with a slow building bluesy swagger and stratospheric chorus’s!
When the pop edge is finally jilted, the back to basic rock spirit really revels on the superb Doctor Alibi featuring Motorhead’s Lemmy and the metal thrashing is unrelenting on the chugging Nothing To Say, showcasing Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows vocals perfectly & Slash’s axe versatility.
There is something here for everyone and not to like this is criminal as it is a perfectly crafted set of epic rock tunes with huge variety, mass pop appeal and a thumping rock and roll heart!
Mr Flowers Says:
Reliably, Slash’s guitar parts can’t be faulted and each song is appropriately infused with each of it’s collaborators hallmarks. For the most part, the all-star cast bring a lot to the table; Crucify The Dead’s macabre vibe would have been a corn-fest had it not featured one of the men who pioneered it all, and Doctor Alibi is easily one of the most exciting songs on the album with the undeniable vocal tones of Lemmy backed by a crunching 4 power-chord riff. Even Fergie assumes the role of rock goddess convincingly on Beautiful Dangerous. Unfortunately, sharing songwriting duties back fires a bit on Gotten, which sucks slightly *because* it sounds like Maroon 5.
Starlight’s slow-fast combo works well, with its sweet intro and blues/gospel style, and the Iggy Pop collaboration, We’re All Gonna Die, is great too. You could argue having a record written by such a disparate set of songwriters means you can never get a coherent album experience, but as a set of individual songs there’s hardly a foot misplaced.
RockOSaurus: 9/10
MrFlowers: 7.5/10
DoesItRock Overall Score: 8.25/10
Does It Rock? March Round-Up
Mar 29th
Plenty of great albums were released this month and we here at DiR.net have picked the best of the bunch to bring to you in a handy Spotify playlist! The widest variety of music in one playlist your likely to find!
Listen now >>> DoesItRock.net – Mar 10 Mix
1) Airbourne – Raise The Flag … Get your beers and raise them to the sky to salute Australia’s “new” Hard Rockers of distinction. DiR? Review
2) Jimi Hendrix Experience – Sunshine Of Your Love ... New album from the legend and this cover is proof to show why he is ‘the’ original guitar god!
3) Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Mama Taught Me Better …Coming out of their folk doldrums this tune is a kick back to those early years DiR? Review
4) Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – Mourning In America… Indie rock with pop flowing though veins feeding a bold punk heart, DiR? Review
5) Two Door Cinema Club – I Can Talk … Huge dancefloor filler of the electrock variety from promising uk band.
6) Gorillaz – Stylo (Feat. Mos Def and Bobby Womack) … Albarn and co. are back with more hip-hop pop DiR? Review
7) The Automatic – Interstate … Going electro has added a cool edge to their once monotonous guitar pop. (Plus its sounds a bit like Motion CIty Soundtrack)
8) Lifehouse – All In … American radio hit for certain, catchy chorus…check, deep booming vocals…check, pop guitars…you get the picture…
9) Alphabeat – The Beat Is … Thoroughly disappointing second album from the once happiest band ever, this is a rare gem from said record.
10) Blood Red Shoes – Don’t Ask … More pop than punk but still can craft a chunky riff or two.
10) Laura Marling – Devil’s Spoke … Beautiful melodies, bleak landscaping and impassioned vocals from the slightly sombre uk folk starlet.
11) Goldfrapp – Rocket … 80′s electro-pop is the latest trend for Goldfrapp ditching the atmosphrics of their previous album.
12) Tunng – By Dusk They Were In The City … Scandinavian indie pop, melodic and too cool for school.
13) Efterklang – Raincoats … Even more from the Nordic countries, this time its Erfterklang’s turn to sprinkle sparkling pop on the masses.
14) Liars – Scarecrows On A Killer Slant … Potent alt fuzz rock from the ever morphing meld that are Liars
15) Jimi Hendrix Experience – Bleeding Heart … Its not very often I’ll be able to say ,”Taken from the new Jimi Hendrix album” so I’m making the most of it! Psychedelia in its prime!
16) Titus Andronicus – A More Perfect Union … Prog rock meets indie and with this much energy and invention these guys will do well!
17) High On Fire – Snakes For The Divine … Wade through the heavy sludge metal to find an amazingly technical and fiery tune!
18) Scorpions – Raised On Rock … Aging German rockers proves there is still guitar gas in the tank as they churn out a cracking tune.
19) Broken Bells – The High Road … When the Shins got involved with Dangermouse this bright tune was the outcome.
20) Streetlight Manifesto – Just … The Streetlight gang have given the Radiohead classic a super happy ska punk makeover!
Jimi Hendrix Experience – Sunshine Of Your Love
Two Door Cinema Club – I Can Talk
Tunng – By Dusk They Were In The City
Lifehouse – All In
Alphabeat – The Beat Is
Efterklang – Modern Drift
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Mama Taught Me Better
The Automatic – Interstate
Gorillaz – Stylo (Album Version) (Feat. Mos Def and Bobby Womack)
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – Mourning In America
Blood Red Shoes – Don’t Ask
Laura Marling – Devil’s Spoke
Jimi Hendrix Experience – Bleeding Heart
Goldfrapp – Rocket
Efterklang – Raincoats
Liars – Scarecrows On A Killer Slant
Two Door Cinema Club – I Can Talk
Tunng – By Dusk They Were In The City
Lifehouse – All In
Alphabeat – The Beat Is
Efterklang – Modern Drift
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Mama Taught Me Better
The Automatic – Interstate
Gorillaz – Stylo (Album Version) (Feat. Mos Def and Bobby Womack)
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – Mourning In America
Blood Red Shoes – Don’t Ask
Laura Marling – Devil’s Spoke
Jimi Hendrix Experience – Bleeding Heart
Goldfrapp – Rocket
Efterklang – Raincoats
Liars – Scarecrows On A Killer Slant
Eric Clapton & Jeff Beck @ The O2 Arena
Mar 12th
Saturday 13th February 2010
Settling down in my seat, bursting with excitement at the prospect of the evening ahead I could not wait for the show to get underway. Not being in the seats which come with warnings for those who suffer from Vertigo was a pleasant surprise and also showcased just how much money there is to be made from playing the O2 arena.
After what felt like ice ages (actually 45 minutes) of eager anticipation. Jeff Beck, the 60’s Legend and guitar virtuoso strode confidently to centre stage to the rapture of the sell out crowd. He proceeded to mesmerize and shine with what can only be described as totally bonkers guitar playing technique.
Using only his thumb and his whammy bar he casts a spell of absolutely beautiful melodies, unknown to most but still incredibly melodic and impressive. In fact the only songs easily recognisable from his entire set was the soul classic I Put A Spell on You, with guest vocalist Joss Stone and a magnificant cover of The Beatles A Day In The Life with his guitar singing the pitch perfect vocal harmonies.
Beck has always been a master at warping the guitar sound into new and exciting directions. His mastery of the whammy bar is unparalleled producing the most emotionally resonating melodies I’ve heard outside of a full orchestral swell (he also had his own small string section backing for most of the set).
This was a tough act to follow but who better to take the task than another 60’s legend, blues guitar virtuoso and songwriter of some of the 20th century’s finest songs…old slow hand himself, Eric Clapton. Taking stage suited and booted he lookedalmost exactly the same as 30 years previous only with greyer hair.
Taking a seat he made a lot of fans happy by starting out on his trusty acoustic guitar. His skills are still impeccable as he played though classic tunes including the mellow tones of Nobody Knows When You’re Down And Out and a poignant Runnin’ On Faith. An early show stopping tune arrived in the shape of Layla, played with such fragile beauty and an awesome bluesy swagger. Standing up he switched to his signature Fender Stratocaster, ready to amp up proceedings.
Upping the stakes as well as the sound, the plugged set was just as impressive as the unplugged with highlights coming thick and fast, most notably in the shape of the reggae cover of I Shot The Sherriff and the uber-ballad Wonderful Tonight But the pinnacle of the set was when he really turned back the clock to reprise some of his Cream days. Absolute classic guitar tracks Cocaine and Crossroads captured the spirit of 60’s rock and roll with plenty of blues aura, psychadelic pianos and nifty guitar runs to boot. With these tunes he exited on a high…not for long though.
With the apart section of the show done, Eric & Jeff banded together for the last segment of the show. This can only be described as awe inspiring! Seeing 2 of the globe’s finest guitar exponents, innovators and genre defining artists on the same stage is impressive in itself. The only measure of age visible was the creases in Becks precious hands and Clapton’s slowly greying mane. They traded guitar lines and jammed over some true old school bluesy numbers including Shake Your Money Maker and a stunning cover of Sinatra’s Moon River. Beck despite his departure from the blues scene can still mix it with Clapton and the combo was breathtaking.
For a brief encore both Eric & Jeff returned to perform Jeff’s most famous tune! For which he apologised to the crowd by saying “Eric made me do this!” before launching the O2 into song with Hi Ho Silver Lining. A cheesy by fun ending to a staggering show
Album Review: Swanton Bombs – Mumbo Jumbo And Murder
Mar 7th
The debut LP from the blues twosome.
Swanton Bombs – Mumbo Jumbo And Murder
RockOSaurus Says:
One thing is for certain, Swanton Bombs are adept at capturing the spirit of slapdash melody making and ramshackle live performances. Their unrefined approach to their off-kilter blues riffing garage rock is raw and powerful. Vocally they are not going to win awards but for enthusiasm they get a gold star.
This album is packed with cracking fuzz filled tunes with the blues energy of Who’s Asking? the bombastic opening instrumental Swanton Bombs, Crowbar, a Blues Brothers-esque shuffle and the unpredictable tempo of album closer Tanks.
They manage a rare thing on Mumbo Jumbo and Murder and that is bringing an aura of a sweat soaked electrifying live show to the CD with their distinctly under produced DIY ethos. MJAM is a great album which bursts at the seams with an unhinged frenetically charged sound, drenched in rock and roll passion. Watch out for their live shows, on this form they will be epic!
Mr Flowers Says:
Mumbo Jumbo starts with a flurry of drumming and fuzzed up guitar riffs, the instrumental opener acting like a statement of intent for Swanton Bombs’ deconstructed blues rock sound.
The production on the album makes it sound like it was recorded in a shed on a 5W amp – it gives it a raw quality, which suits their minimalistic sound and anarchic vocals to a tee. Indeed, it makes the already lo-fi production on a White Stripes album sound like the WWE to Swanton Bombs’ Giant Haystacks.
Of course, it’s all about the songs, and there are plenty of good ones on this record: with “Viktoria” probably being the album’s the most instantaneous track, Swanton are equally adept at slowing the pace down, with “Doom” and “Night Night” being beautifully shambolic ballads of sorts.
While this indie band are unlikely to ever make it on to Radio 1, I’m sure they’ll pick up many fans with this ability to pen a decent chorus and satisfying guitar riff.
RockOSaurus: 8.5/10
MrFlowers: 8/10
DoesItRock Overall Score: 8.25
Listen to Swanton Bombs – Mumbo Jumbo And Murder now on Spotify!
