It's said
that familiarity breeds contempt, but there will always be exceptions
to the rule, and such exceptions are often prevalent in the world of
rock and roll.
Take The
Quireboys for instance.
In this
bands case the familiarity is something that we are happy to warmly
embrace.
Would we
really be impressed with them if they were to slip down a side road
and throw in a vocal that wasn't a swaggering bourbon soaked one?
How about
if the blind horse didn't understand that a nod is as good as a wink
when it comes to playing some dirty sounding rhythm and blues?
Seriously
folks.
How about
a Quireboys album that didn't feature some honky tonk piano?
Would we
really be open to Spike and the boys exploring new avenues?
I'll not
be going out on a limb if I said we wouldn't be impressed with them
wandering into pastures previously unexplored, and the reason for
that is because they are one of those bands who simply shouldn't fuck
with the formula.
It's not
tired, it's not old, it's not irrelevant.
What they
do is actually sort of timeless.
They are
always going to reach out to an audience.
When you
listen to a track like Mother Mary you fundamentally get it.
It's a
song that given half a chance could draw reverential silence from a
stadium sized crowd.
It could
stun a rowdy mess of hollering rock and rollers into submissive
communal worship.
In fact
if it came out in the late seventies the band would probably still be
filling stadia off the back of it.
Yes, it
is that good, and it's not a singular anomaly on the 'Beautiful
Curse' album as it's all rawk solid.
If the
album was a map and each song was a destination then it wouldn't
matter where you stuck a pin in it as it's going to be a place that
you do want to visit, and not just once, but again and again.
This
isn't a comeback as they didn't go anywhere, it's no return to form
as they never lost it.
What it
is, and I can comfortably say it, is another chapter in an already
impressive story, and long may that story continue.
Bloody sublime
No comments:
Post a Comment