Reviews roundup – Greybeards vs. The Burros vs. Charles In The Kitchen vs. MojoRose vs. Purpura Ink

Reviews roundup – Greybeards vs. The Burros vs. Charles In The Kitchen vs. MojoRose vs. Purpura Ink

GREYBEARDS
Longing To Fly
ATTITUDE Recordings

Liars!  There’s not a grey beard in sight.  I mean, I only listened to this because I thought it was a band called Longing To Fly who’d  written a concept album about grey beards.  Which would have made my grey beard very happy.  Gits.

But over in Sweden, it seems that Greybeards means modern, mainstream rock ala Foo Fighters with a few punky riffs that a certain Mr Dregen would be very familiar with.  And it’s when they get a wee bit dirty and scuffed up that things work best.

So you’ll want to point your multimedia device at ‘Take The Fight’ and ”Burning Man’, which are the best tunes here.  Singer Olle Westlund has a strong, rock voice, and I reckon we’ve yet to hear the best of him.

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THE BURROS
Maya
Sauna Records

Over in Detroit, meanwhile, The Burros have put 18 songs on their latgest album.  Like I have that much of a lifespan left.

They’re an Americana duo who specialise in the sort of wistful Flying Burritto / Gram Parsons thing that makes middle aged men moist.  Me, I prefer some grits in the morning, so some of it washed right over me, but when the harmonies and the melodies find a song that sticks, then it makes for a very pleasing listen.

There is some splendid pedal steel and some good arrangements which bring out the best in the best songs.  Which, at the moment are ‘Peaches In The Sun’, ‘Across The Great Divide’ and ‘Written In The Stars’.  It probably sounds really good when the sun is shining, but as we’re in the middle of a cauld, dreich Scotch summer, what I really need is a hot water bottle and a cup of tea.

However, if you’re in the right place at the right time, this will suit your Americana needs.

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CHARLES IN THE KITCHEN
Charles In The Kitchen
Fake RnR Records

Much as with Greybeards up above, the very oddly named Swiss band Charles In The Kitchen are doing that slightly scuzzy mainstream rock with a hint of punk thing.

They’ve certainly got a way with a title, though, as a quick scan reveals ‘Speed Me Date Me Drop Me’, ‘Bang You Tonight’, ‘I Wanna Go To A Gay Bar’ and my favourite, ‘ A Monk Alone’ amongst the contents.  They even tell you the calorific content, as well as letting you know that this CD provides 666% of your daily testosterone.  Although, sadly, only 3% of your manliness.  Sad face emoticon.

So, a sense of humour then, which certainly helps you on your way.  I enjoyed this, much as I would a burger out the Wimpey.  It helped sate my appetite, but I won’t be rushing back for another one just yet. They’re good musicians, have a bit more depth than you would imagine from the tracklisting, and seem to be having A Good Time All The Time.  Which is nice.

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MOJOROSE
MojoRose
independent

Back over to the American colonies now, and it’s time for some modern blues rock.  You know the sort of thing.  The Black Keys rather than Willie Dixon.

And so it is with Seth Bryant – Lead & Rhythm Guitar, backing vocals J. Parker West – Guitar & Lead Vocals Chas Villanova – Bass & Rhythm Guitar, backing vocals and Joe Mauro – Drums.  And they’re pretty good at it too.

It’s probably just a tad too indie to make it on to my personal repeat playlist, but when they err on the side of the blues, as they do on songs like ‘Morning Glory’, ‘Whiskey Bottle’ and ‘Black And Blue’, then it’s a very enjoyable listen.

They’ve been banging this out for five years or so all over the southern states, so they’ve certainly got the musical chops for it, and if you like your modern blues rock to have a garage feel about it, then check them out.

PURPURA INK
Breakin’ Chains
Wikimetal

Eighties metal / hard rock, and to get that we’re off to Brazil!

Now I only know two things about Brazilian metal.  Sepultura and Angra.  And Purpura Ink (nope, me neither) are neither thrash nor power metal.  Nope, they’re straight out of the eighties, bowing down to the likes of Judas Priest, but with a slightly melodic bent.

And it’s good.  Granted, it doesn’t have a perfect production, but I’m guessing their budget didn’t stretch to exhuming Michael Wagener or Neil Kernon, but their handful of sweeties has been well spent.  If anything (and as the album title suggests), they’re a beefed up Dokken for the 21st century.

That’s the title track, that is.  If this were 1985 and they were American you’d be hearing ‘Something To Believe’ and ‘Let Me Stay’ on the radio, replete with big hair, scantily clad ladies and a few wind machines for the video.

For the record, they are E.J (vocais) Márcio Glam (guitarra) Chris Wiesen (guitarra) Seth Bass (baixo) Derick (bateria), although I suspect some of these may be made up.  Regardless, this is a good one.

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