ALBUM REVIEW: The Wildhearts, "30 Year Itch"

By: Richard Maw

 

Album Type: Live Album

Date Released: 04/12/2020

Label: Round Records

 

“30 Year Itch” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Dislocated
2). Everlong
3). Suckerpunch
4). Anthem
5). Diagnosis
6). TV Tan
7). The Jackson Whites
8). Let Em Go
9). Vanilla Radio
10). Urge
11). Mazel Tov Cocktail
12). Sick Of Drugs
13). Someone Who Won’t Let Me Go
14). The Revolution Will Be Televised
15). Caffeine Bomb
16). Love U Til I Don’t
17). I Wanna Go Where The People Go

The Review:

This double live album celebrates The Wildhearts' 30 year existence in some style. Culled from their 2019 tours, it is an extensive document of a band that really does have... songs. Great songs. Catchy, riffy, endlessly playable songs.

 

For even a casual fan there is so much to enjoy here. Of course, there are a fair few of the big hits from over two decades ago- “Caffeine Bomb” is here, “I wanna Go Where The People Go” closes the record- as well as mid period gems such as “The Revolution Will Be Televised” and later material from “Rennaissance Men” and so on.

 

The Wildhearts are a band I have seen a fair few times over the years; at their own shows, supporting Motorhead, at festivals, at swanky London venues and in a couple of smaller venues, too. They are a band I hold in the highest regard, much like Brit noise monsters Raging Speedhorn, they ventured to parts of Northern England where other bands didn't. I saw them in 1997 at The Cleethorpes Winter Gardens (supported by Doncaster's finest Groop Dogdrill). It was an incredible gig. Everyone I knew went, as this was an EVENT. There were hardly any bands that bothered coming to Grimsby/Cleethorpes but Ginger and the boys did and it was nothing short of incendiary.

 

I recall turning up at the venue and seeing Ginger at the stage door at the back. Tall, tattooed, lean and the first man I had ever seen in real life wearing leather trousers- that alone marked him in my mind as some kind of alien being, beamed down to Humberside with a guitar and probably a load of drugs. They were so good, so life affirming... the very essence of rock and roll. The gig has stayed with me ever since. Ginger was great onstage, a natural frontman and raconteur. I remember him praising Groop Dogdrill and wryly remarking: “Keep playing like that and you'll be headlining this place one day....” Ha and indeed ha.

 

That life force is still undimmed. The band and its members have had their ups and downs over the years; suicide attempts, addiction, loss of limb(!), they've been through it all and survived. Ginger is, in my view, one of the best songwriters to have come out of the UK in the last thirty years and his oevre is on full display here across these sprawling 17 tracks. The sound is big and brash- the brief given to the producer was “Loud guitars and loud crowd.” That accurately sums up what you get here- along with insanely beefy drums from Ritch Battersby.

 

Simply put, there is nothing wasted here, no weak tracks and nothing less than the finest rock and roll band from England since Motorhead. It's a superb live record and one that reminded me just what a force to be reckoned with The Wildhearts are and how many great songs they've written over the years. Yes, I'm biased and forever fated to look favourably on the band- nostalgia will do that to you. But, as a not so dissimilar band once said; teenage dreams are hard to beat. It's true: rock and roll of the finest vintage that reaps souls AND saves lives.

 

“30 Year Itch” is available HERE

Band info: facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Phil Campbell & The Bastard Sons, "The Age of Absurdity"

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 26/01/2018

Label: Nuclear Blast

Fans of Motorhead will find what they are seeking here. Likewise, fans of more conventional hard rock acts like Guns n Roses and even earlier Aerosmith will find much to enjoy here. A solid and hard rocking record.

“The Age of Absurdity” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Ringleader
2. Freak Show
3. Skin and Bones
4. Gypsy Kiss
5. Welcome To Hell
6. Dark Days
7. Dropping The Needle
8. Step Into The Fire
9. Get On Your Knees
10. High Rule
11. Into The Dark

The Review:

Phil Campbell played guitar in Motorhead from 1984 to the end of the band. Over thirty years on the rock n roll front-lines. It's no surprise, then, that this record is a rocking shot of adrenaline, but some might be a little taken aback by the bluesy inflections in much of the material and the classic rock inflections to the solos and hooks. In fact, while opener “Ringleader” has a fair bit in common with Campbell's Alma Mater, the likes of “Freak Show” are bluesy swaggerers which would have fitted in perfectly on much more melodic records- think The Wildhearts by way of Free and you have it about right.

As the record progresses, it is clear that Campbell hasn't used up all his bullets with his extensive output with Motorhead and instead must have saved up a wealth of  material which he did not feel was right for Lemmy, but makes perfect sense. When the tempo ratchets up, as it does on “Gypsy Kiss”, of course the spectre of the greatest rock n roll band of all time will loom large- but the cleaner vocals and melodies are a departure.

Over the course of the eleven tracks there are a variety of tempos- from the gallop of vinyl tribute “Dropping The Needle” to foot stompers like “Welcome To Hell” and the blues rock of the excellent “Dark Days”. Neil Starr's vocals are a real strong point of the release- confident and melodically powerful, they provide a great counterpoint to Phil and the bass/drums/guitar supplied by his sons- and as you would expect, the band are a tight unit.

Over the course of eleven tracks you get bluesy, swaggering rock n roll, delivered at maximum volume. The final three song stretch is catchy and hard driving and even thoughtful as on the closing “Into The Dark”. Fans of Motorhead will find what they are seeking here. Likewise, fans of more conventional hard rock acts like Guns n Roses and even earlier Aerosmith will find much to enjoy here. A solid and hard rocking record.

“The Age of Absurdity” is available here



Band info: facebook

The Wildhearts - "Never Outdrunk, Never Outsung: PHUQ Live" (Album Review)

By: Richard Maw

 

Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 03/07/2016
Label:  Round Records Records |
Pledge Music

 

 

Ginger was and is one of the best songwriters the UK has produced (not of the 90's, just generally). He has written many, many great songs, for instance “Woah Shit, You Got Through”  which is played venomously here and let us not forget the man writes great riffs and the melodies here are also stellar. Overall then, is this an essential release? No, not when the studio album is available. Is this an excellent reading of that record in the environment where The Wildhearts are best experienced? Yes. One for the fans, for sure, but also one for anyone who ever wondered what the band are about. It turns out that they are about great songs, great riffs and, above all else, great rock and roll.

 

 

 

“Never Outdrunk, Never Outsung PHUQ Live” album track listing:

 

1 - I Wanna Go Where The People Go

2 - V Day

3 - Just In Lust

4 - Baby Strange

5 - Nita Nitro

6 - Jonesing For Jones

7 - Up Your Arse You Fucking Cunt***

8 - Woah Shit, You Got Through

9 - Cold Patootie Tango

10 - Caprice

11 - Be My Drug

12 - Naivety Play

13 - In Lilly's Garden

14 - Getting It

 

The Review:

 

 

The Wildhearts return with this full live rendition of the now classic/revered “PHUQ” album, 20 years after its release. Ginger capably backed up by CJ, Ritch Battersby and Jon Poole (so the majority of the classic line up, then). The record itself pulls together versions of the songs from several different gigs, but the record has the feel of a one gig release; the audience is in full voice throughout and the band plays very tightly.

 

The beauty of live records is often that they show the band in the way that they actually sound- shorn of studio trickery. In cases of bands like The Wildhearts, AC/DC and Motorhead this is assuredly a good thing. For “PHUQ” live, you have a guitar on the left, one on the right, the vocals and the rhythm section on the centre, and it sounds fantastic!

 

Ginger's vocals are great; a little more raspy these days and a little more measured, as befits a man of his age (surely no older than 35?!). To underline the point that the band's second album is their best, the opening triple threat of “I Wanna Go Where The People Go”, “V-Day” and “Just In Lust” receive rapturous applause and are greeted like the classic slices of hard rock/power pop that they are. The album continues impressively with “Baby Strange” (for less than a minute) and then “Nita Nitro”. “Jonesing For Jones” reminded me how the band could write great slow ones when they wanted to (see also “Skychaser High” and “Geordie in Wonderland”). It also reminded me of all the lurid stories in the music press over the years about the drugs, the fighting, the rehab, the suicide attempts and so on. Sadly, it is these stories which have created a legend that has at times overshadowed the music and the band.

 

Regardless of music press tittle tattle, Ginger was and is one of the best songwriters the UK has produced (not of the 90's, just generally). He has written many, many great songs- some of the best of which are played here- but that list perhaps does not include interlude “Up Your Arse You Fucking Cunt”. That said, it does include “Woah Shit, You Got Through” which is played venomously here. My only criticism of “PHUQ” was that perhaps it was a little overlong (I never got through my tape copy on the bus journey to and from school in full). There are certainly some tracks, such as “Cold Patootie Tango” which are extraneous. Indeed, it could even be said that some songs are overlong (“Caprice”), but when the riffs are this good? Perhaps not.

 

Ginger always wrote great riffs, that's for sure, and the melodies are also stellar. The latter part of the album is pretty strong; the excellently titled “Naivety Play”, “In Lily's Garden” and “Getting It” are all better than “Be My Drug” to my ears (I just never liked it that much- sacrilege to some). Is this an essential release? No, not when the studio album is available. Is this an excellent reading of that record in the environment where The Wildhearts are best experienced? Yes.

 

One for the fans, for sure, but also one for anyone who ever wondered what the band are about. It turns out that they are about great songs, great riffs and, above all else, great rock and roll.

 

“Never Outdrunk, Never Outsung PHUQ Live” is available to pre order here

 

Band  info: facebook