|
|
|
|
Phenomenal, fat riffs and smoky, sun-kissed vocals. Wah- and fuzz-laden solos mixed apart from the rhythm section. Stoner rock, funk, boogie, blues metal, psychedelia. Reverb and buzz, acid and booze. It’s all here on this retro smorgasbord, which has quite unexpectedly been licensed from Roadrunner. I can imagine this baby getting midwifed into prominence by the likes of Meteorcity, but Mssrs. Connor and Gitter have been surprising the hell out of me lately, so why not them? Anyhow, the record. One can hear everything from Black Oak Arkansas to Monster Magnet, from Foghat to Steve Miller, on display here. It’s always hard, occasionally quite heavy, but always character-driven and effortless, like the band’s retro factor is inherent rather than nascent. If complaints must be made, and they must, it’s that the thirteen-track album sags in the sequencing of tracks six through nine, the similarities of their mid-paced delivery causing slight back strain to the album as a whole. But taken empirically, they, like the first five, are all outstandingly great tracks with a preternatural understanding of the kind of smarts it takes to make big, dumb rock riffs connect with arena crowds, X- and Y-chromosomes alike. Things get touch and go towards the end, with “Light-headed” an awesome glam-rock rallying point but ‘Chico” seeming like filler, but by then the summary judgment’s been made: buy it.
| Tracklist |
| 1. No Rest |
| 2. Car Crash |
| 3. Strange Generation |
| 4. Burn You Down |
| 5. Time In Space |
| 6. Give It Up |
| 7. Deadman |
| 8. Control |
| 9. Deep End |
| 10. Way To Go |
| 11. Light-Headed |
| 12. Chico |
| 13. We Were Young |
: N/A
| Buy other Dirty Americans albums |
