Reviews roundup – Devin Williams vs. Classic Rock Salute To The Doors vs. Darryl Way vs. Neville Staple

Reviews roundup – Devin Williams vs. Classic Rock Salute To The Doors vs. Darryl Way vs. Neville Staple

DEVIN WILLIAMS
Destruction of Kings
self released

Christian rock?  We don’t get many of them round our way, although I did once buy a bunch of John Elefante CDs off a boat in Leith Docks.  Long story.  Anyway, Devin Williams has come along to show me the error of his ways with some melodic rock meets grunge lite and inspirational lyrics.

Now I may be too old, too tired, and too unenamoured of life to have my views changed by a song, but he is very good at what he does.  And even better, he does it with guitar solos.  Even if you don’t listen to the words, you’ll thoroughly enjoy songs of the calibre of ‘I Will Overcome’ and ‘Like A Fire’.

For sure, when things slow down a bit, it becomes a bit dull, but when he gets his rock on, it’s a very good thing indeed.

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Various Artists
Light My Fire: Classic Rock Salute To The Doors
Purple Pyramid

They do like a tribute album over at the Purple Pyramid.  Because it’s not that long ago that their Cleopatra cohorts punted out “A Psych Tribute To The Doors”.  What I said then still applies.  [koff]

“The Doors. Lumpen blues rock spouting sixth form poetry or psychedelic innovators? If you picked the latter, then you are, officially, an arse.”

However, this is actually quite good.  Largely due to the quality of the contributors who are, without exception, Better Than The Doors.  Which means you get Jimi Jamison from Survivor singing ‘L.A. Woman’.  Leslie West bludgeoning through ”Roadhouse Blues’ whilst failing to beat The Status Quo.

There are a couple of Deep Purple vocalists with Joe Lynn Turner and Ian Gillan along for the ride, and even Graham Bonnet does a grand turn on ‘The Soft Parade’. If keyboards are your thing then folk like Tony Kaye, Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman do their plinking and plonking, and where else will you find Dream Theater, Gong and Hawkwind colliding on the same track.  Well, that’s ‘Touch Me’, that is.  Add in some Uriah Heep and Grand Funk Railroad, and this made an old rocker very happy indeed.

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DARRYL WAY
Children Of The Cosmos
Right Honourable Records

There’s a blast from the past.  Darryl Way!  From Curved Air!  From the seventies.  And with a version of Curved Air punting out a new album, what better time for Mr Way to return to the prog.

According to the PR, this sees him “return to his roots, classic melodic progressive rock”.  Or as he says “to recreate the spirit of experimentation that led to the ‘Progressive Rock’ movement of the late 60s and early 70s”.  Which seems to translate as a bit new-agey with some prog flourishes.

It’s all very amiable and easy going, but that meant I kept zoning out and missing bits.  He does get a bit symphonic on ‘Fire With Fire’, which features a female vocal, and the material bunched together at the end is actually the best on offer.  I’ve no idea who else appears on the album as there are no sleeve notes, and while “Children of the Cosmos” is his first prog album in over twenty years, it’s not one that’s going to prove essential.

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NEVILLE STAPLE
Ska Crazy!
Cleopatra

I hated 2-Tone.  I was the right age for it, mind, a boy on the cusp of being a man, but the world had invented Motorhead by the time I was 14, so there was no funking skanking round my way.  We had a good few paggers, but it largely annoyed me.  My view hasn’t changed, which explains The Selecter having recently being voted, in my house, the Worst Band Who Had A Hit Ever.

However, I did quite like the Fun Boy Three, so I was prepared to take the hit for the team, and take a listen to former Specials / Fun Boy Three fella, Neville Staple, and his new “Ska Crazy!” album.  And it’s alright, actually.  A mixture of well known covers, and some new material, it sees him take on the likes of ‘Time Longer Than Rope’ by Prince Buster and ‘Johnny Too Bad’ from the Slickers.

Turns out, though, that the radicalism of the late seventies / early eighties didn’t work, because new tune, ‘Roadblock spends its time warning ‘the kids’ about the dangers of drugs and gangsterhood.  Who knew.  If you’ve still got a pork pie hat and an ill fitting suit, and haven’t bought a record since 1983, then this is the one to break your duck to.

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