The Album Review Club - Week #195 (page 1310) - A New World Record - ELO

bennyboy said:
Have Rival Sons got a live album released.
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Not that I’m aware of, although there is some stuff available on YT

maximumvolumemusic.com

RIVAL SONS LIVE ALBUMS - Maximum Volume Music

In June 2021, Rock’n’Roll band Rival Sons delivered two live performances from Catalina Island, California. They were originally streamed via VEEPS to fans at home across the world, many of whom were still in lockdown because of the Covid-19 pandemic. At the time the band stated: “We’ve all been...
maximumvolumemusic.com maximumvolumemusic.com

Edit - these are on Spotify as well
 
GornikDaze said:
We have some very well informed posters who know their onions. I wanted to see how people felt about this one. I’m guilty of the “it’s not as good as their early stuff” for most of the music I listen to - but probably not in this case.

The Black Keys are definitely one where I much prefer the first 5-6 albums, but as Threespires alluded to, they do reinvent themselves, which isn’t always (to my taste) a good thing.

That said whether RS are blatantly copying, ripping off or whatever, I like his vocals and love the guitar sound. Personally I’d score this a 7 with GWV and 8.5 - I don’t do it for the fame of topping the list ;)
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No, it's fair enough. I think that there's a lot to be said for nominating the debut album of a band who have gone on to produce ever better music.
 
Rival Sons have been on my deep dive list for a while now. Ever since I accidentally pressed the spotify search result early, and played them while intending to put on Rival Schools. Remember thinking, these sound good, will have to circle back. I was at my mates and he laughed at my never having heard of them, prick. Anyway, it never really happened, I put the odd song on here and there iver time, but never gave it the go I wanted to. So this week was a welcome chance to do that.

Don't think it will come as much of a surprise that after last week's nomination, I woukd like this one. Overall.

Whoever used the words 'wall of sound' last week, borrowing that as it applies here. The album starts off great, and while it has that 70s hard rock feel, it also feels resonably 'modern'. Then it is almost as if they shit their pants at the thought that of soing their own thing, and they go heavy on the tribute band act. Memphis Sun, probably the best song on the album, is pretty much stairway to heaven with some other Led Zeppelin songs thrown in. And from there it just gets more like that, the wails and the lot.
Which, I guess if you like what they are immitating, is all good.

They do perform it well, the singer is very good, strong bass and guitar driving it all.

I enjoyed it. I did wish they were braver with being themselves. Listened to Feral Roots as well, which does seem a touch more on its own two feet, so put it down to a debut trying to make it. It could do with a bit more darkness, and a bit less Zep. Not the high pitch singing with a capital D, but more doomy feel. But a strong 7 nevertheless.
 
As I said before, the parts are still not adding up. Individually I'm fine with it but something is not quite gelling. I get the LZ homage, but whereas Greta Van Fleet aimed their music at early LZ, this appears, in my mind, to be the later more bloated era. And I'm more comfortable with the early incarnation. There also is a lack of a decent standout riff.

That's not to say that I hate it though as it still is rock. There are some good moments, Tell Me Something I like, On My Way is rather nice, his voice on Pocket Full Of Stones works very well.

Hard to score this one. I think it shows promise, I'm going to give later albums a listen to see where they progressed to.

6/10

As far as buying it? It's been added to my want list. When I see it I'll snap it up. Can't say fairer than that.
 
GornikDaze said:
That’s a couple of mentions for Feral Roots I think. My personal favourite is Great Western Valkyrie, although there are some great tracks on most of their albums.

I agree that there has been a lot of development since this album came out. They definitely aren’t unique, but they do what they do really well and have a great sound. Live, I’d say they are one of the best blues/rock bands out there at the moment (not including those acts that are doing their farewell again stuff that charge the earth for tickets).

Special shout out to @Coatigan who threw a comment in about The Devil and The Almighty Blues recently….. awesome!!!
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Glad you followed it up. Don't be afraid to give The Kings of Frog Island a go either, for a slightly mellower UK version. Havent listen to much of their more recent stuff in fairness, but circa 2007-2012 I really liked them. The album II is worth a pop.
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
“Reminds me of” and “influenced by” and “sounds like” are very different than “copies” and “blatantly rips off”. :)
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Add to your list, ‘derivative of’ and ‘homage to’.
I’m on second listen and I’m torn by some of your comments and a revisit to my initial observations.

This is music I actually feel I should be into more than what I’m getting from it.
These are very good and the album is in a particular vein that when I’m in that mood this is the stuff that should satisfy me.

I’m listening and enjoying but there’s a constant niggle in my brain.
I can’t help feel at times that they’ve packed too many of their multiple influences into each song. Sometimes you think, just pick one sound and stop trying to pack it all into each 3 and a half minutes or so.
I sense the difference between the artist and the artisan.
The stuff they are emulating understands the art better. It’s mostly from the seventies and here again I think they are suffering in this thread from the fact we are in the seventies for real in the other music thread and the reality and diversity is far more attractive in that thread.
These come across as extremely good craftsmen trying to emulate some masterpieces of artists they revere.

Still glad I’ve heard them.
Completely new to me even though the genre is nostalgia to me now.
 
“Muzak” is a derisive term for good reason, but it’s also ultimately harmless. This is Klazzik Rock, which is also meant to be a derisive term, but also harmless. This is an absolutely pointless, useless exercise that might as well be a sound check, but performed by musicians who quite clearly know what they’re doing. As original product it is utterly hopeless. As art, it’s what you’d find at a flea market. It’s perfectly enjoyable too, and I get that as such many here are having a good time listening. Hey, I like flea markets too. But I go there to find cheap bargains or maybe diamonds in the rough. This is neither, which means I nod pleasantly at the vendor and move to the next booth.

When I heard the opening notes of “Pocketful of Stones” I laughed out loud in my car because it’s is such an obvious rip-off of LZ’s “Dancing Days”. For a second I literally thought they were taking the piss. I briefly wondered whether our nominator was as well.

While there is plenty of LZ here, there are drum fills and bass lines in other songs that couldn’t be any closer to Moon and Entwistle than if the two came back from the dead. Of course they sound good and are good — because they’re like that Glass Man guy in Amelie who paints The Boating Party every year. I brought up the Spinal Tap reference because of the line about “the lack of musical invention within”, (not because of the cover, which I actually love). They aren’t working a turn on 70s music giants — they’re copying them. Except for the lyrics of course, which say nothing and mean nothing. But that’s okay actually because they’re a perfect accompaniment to music with similar impact.

Somewhere there’s a line about “What can I say that hasn’t already been said?” This rhetorical should have been studied more deeply by the gentleman who croaked it so gutturally.

I want to give this a much lower score than I will, because like you all, I thought these were GOOD copies of other people’s music (with only one ballad, thank Christ). I found myself tapping along, enjoying the rhythms and sonics I’ve already heard a thousand times before. But their punishment will be that I won’t ever listen to or think of them again. I’m not depriving myself of their growth — I’m penaliz(s)ing their record company for releasing this instead of some original music the band wrote. Apparently they eventually did write some. 5/10.
 
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FogBlueInSanFran said:
“Muzak” is a derisive term for good reason, but it’s also ultimately harmless. This is Klazzik Rock, which is also meant to be a derisive term, but also harmless. This is an absolutely pointless, useless exercise that might as well be a sound check, but performed by musicians who quite clearly know what they’re doing. As original product it is utterly hopeless. As art, it’s what you’d find at a flea market. It’s perfectly enjoyable too, and I get that as such many here are having a good time listening. Hey, I like flea markets too. But I go there to find cheap bargains or maybe diamonds in the rough. This is neither, which means I nod pleasantly at the vendor and move to the next booth.

When I heard the opening notes of “Pocketful of Stones” I laughed out loud in my car because it’s is such an obvious rip-off of LZ’s “Dancing Days”. For a second I literally thought they were taking the piss. I briefly wondered whether our nominator was as well.

While there is plenty of LZ here, there are drum fills and bass lines in other songs that couldn’t be any closer to Moon and Entwistle than if the two came back from the dead. Of course they sound good and are good — because they’re like that Glass Man guy in Amelie who paints The Boating Party every year. I brought up the Spinal Tap reference because of the line about “the lack of musical invention within”, (not because of the cover, which I actually love). They aren’t working a turn on 70s music giants — they’re copying them. Except for the lyrics of course, which say nothing and mean nothing. But that’s okay actually because they’re a perfect accompaniment to music with similar impact.

Somewhere there’s a line about “What can I say that hasn’t already been said?” This rhetorical should have been studied more deeply by the gentleman who croaked it so gutturally.

I want to give this a much lower score than I will, because like you all, I thought these were GOOD copies of other people’s music (with only one ballad, thank Christ). I found myself tapping along, enjoying the rhythms and sonics I’ve already heard a thousand times before. But their punishment will be that I won’t ever listen to or think of them again. I’m not depriving myself of their growth — I’m penaliz(s)ing their record company for releasing this instead original music the band wrote. Apparently they eventually did some. 5/10.
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I was expecting worse ;) apologies for ruining your first week of retirement.
 
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
Before the Fire - Rival Sons
What would one get if you mixed the vocals of Queen with the instruments of Led Zeppelin?

I offer this album from Rivals Sons as exhibit A. I'm with Foggy in that there is a difference between "sounds like" or "influenced by" vs. "derivitive of", and in too many places, this album for me sounded like the latter.

The first two tracks had me thinking, "oh, I could be listening to Led Zeppelin". And given where we are in the evolution of Rock and having recently seen Becoming Led Zeppelin on Netflix, I'm quite familiar again with every track on their first two albums. "Tell Me Something" had me thinking "Bring It On Home" in places. In "Lucky Girl", I wanted to sing "I-I-I-I-I'm not your Steppin' Stone" from the Monkeys. It wasn't intentional, but I could swear I was going to get one of those at one point.

Things got interesting on track 3 with "Memphis Sun", which on its own, went straight to my Memphis playlist for a themed song I did not have. I really liked this more slow-down blues driven song with its distinctive riff, that really was a unique guitar solo at 2:38 in until the conclusion. Well done, there.

I could swear I heard "Hey, Hey What Can I Do" when "Angel" opened, which by this point, became a game of 'find the riff', and probably not what I should have been focused on. A bit of "Traveling Riverside Blues" made me think I should be comparing notes with OB1 just to make sure. ;-)

By the time "Pocketful of Stones" started, I felt that "Dancing Days" (were) here again, to the point I had to do a search and see if it was just me. It wasn't.

I did enjoy "The Man Who Wasn't There" as something that I felt stood out on its own and had a bit of a psychedelic ending. "Pleasant Return" sounded a bit like The Beatles "Tomorrow Never Knows" without the eastern influence there, and had some good bass work in it.

"On My Way" was a more vocal driven song and was where I heard the Queen influences a bit more. "I Want More" had that boogie-woogie style to Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well" that I recognized.

"Flames Of Lanka" was a nice 5 minute trippy psychedelia piece that sounded almost Doors-like in its approach, just not with the vocals, but it had some nice jam spots in particular.

"Nanda-Nandana" flowed from that prior song and had a nice solo, but had too much of a "Nobody's Fault But Mine" vibe going on in places.

This was their opening album, so in some areas, I can give them a pass somewhat for what they are trying to do. I see they've had a long career and maybe there are others of their more recent works that seem less derivative as this one does. This one had some moments, especially in "Memphis Sun", but there wasn't as much I'd be latching onto. It's a 6/10 for the moments that shined and for the homage to the bands that originated the rock styles decades ago.
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What he said!

A very good enjoyable choice. Lots of "influences" but no real hooks or standouts on it to elevate it above being good/average IMO.

The LZ influence was pretty obvious and I got idea of various 60s stuff, the idea in particular that I could have heard The Kinks doing something similar (but better).

Clearly a decent band but as was said, suffering from the fact that they have come just after another rock band doing something a little better and little different.

Someone mentioned about whether they had done any live albums and this got me into thinking about @BlueHammer85 and his Embrace offering. In this case I think I may have enjoyed this weeks album live to give it more power.

Its a 6 from the Derry jury, enjoyable and another interesting new band for me.
 
GornikDaze said:
I was expecting worse ;) apologies for ruining your first week of retirement.
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Ha ha — we’ve had far worse than this! Plus not even Sleep Token could ruin the first week of retirement! Speaking of, it’s nice to get some sleep after 25 years of 4 am wake-up calls!
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
Ha ha — we’ve had far worse than this! Plus not even Sleep Token could ruin the first week of retirement! Speaking of, it’s nice to get some sleep after 25 years of 4 am wake-up calls!
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Enjoy mate - it’ll be interesting to hear how it’s going in a few months time. It took me a while to decompress… I definitely have now!!
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
“Muzak” is a derisive term for good reason, but it’s also ultimately harmless. This is Klazzik Rock, which is also meant to be a derisive term, but also harmless. This is an absolutely pointless, useless exercise that might as well be a sound check, but performed by musicians who quite clearly know what they’re doing. As original product it is utterly hopeless. As art, it’s what you’d find at a flea market. It’s perfectly enjoyable too, and I get that as such many here are having a good time listening. Hey, I like flea markets too. But I go there to find cheap bargains or maybe diamonds in the rough. This is neither, which means I nod pleasantly at the vendor and move to the next booth.

When I heard the opening notes of “Pocketful of Stones” I laughed out loud in my car because it’s is such an obvious rip-off of LZ’s “Dancing Days”. For a second I literally thought they were taking the piss. I briefly wondered whether our nominator was as well.

While there is plenty of LZ here, there are drum fills and bass lines in other songs that couldn’t be any closer to Moon and Entwistle than if the two came back from the dead. Of course they sound good and are good — because they’re like that Glass Man guy in Amelie who paints The Boating Party every year. I brought up the Spinal Tap reference because of the line about “the lack of musical invention within”, (not because of the cover, which I actually love). They aren’t working a turn on 70s music giants — they’re copying them. Except for the lyrics of course, which say nothing and mean nothing. But that’s okay actually because they’re a perfect accompaniment to music with similar impact.

Somewhere there’s a line about “What can I say that hasn’t already been said?” This rhetorical should have been studied more deeply by the gentleman who croaked it so gutturally.

I want to give this a much lower score than I will, because like you all, I thought these were GOOD copies of other people’s music (with only one ballad, thank Christ). I found myself tapping along, enjoying the rhythms and sonics I’ve already heard a thousand times before. But their punishment will be that I won’t ever listen to or think of them again. I’m not depriving myself of their growth — I’m penaliz(s)ing their record company for releasing this instead of some original music the band wrote. Apparently they eventually did write some. 5/10.
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Out of genuine interest, do you (or did you, given your retirement) work in an industry where originality matters, happens, or is common or unlikely.

Not in any way a dig, this is a very interesting discussion, and I am curious what prism people see the topic through.
 
Coatigan said:
Out of genuine interest, do you (or did you, given your retirement) work in an industry where originality matters, happens, or is common or unlikely.

Not in any way a dig, this is a very interesting discussion, and I am curious what prism people see the topic through.
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I mean, I think originality is uncommon in my business, but that I was original enough to be successful!

Definitely didn’t take it as a dig.
 
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