This week’s Tracks of the Week were selected by throwing all of this week’s releases into a barrel full of Ruddles County, and choosing the ones that bobbed to the top. We hope you enjoy their heady magnificence.
Foo Fighters - In The Clear “Now that’s where you’ll find all of the greats”, said the Jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong, of the Preservation Hall in New Orleans. Why is this relevant? Because it’s where this lively video was filmed. So it’s nice to see the Foos pay their respects to such a historic building by dressing in their Sunday best for the performance. Mmmm, gumbo.
AC/DC - Rock Or Bust After the disappointingly low-budget Play Ball video, it’s great to see DC release some footage more befitting their role as the long-reigning kings of hard rock boogie: surrounded by fans, Angus in full uniform, and a tune so sprightly cows might dance were it to be piped into the milking shed.
Ginger Wildheart & Courtney Love - Honour Courtney Love seems to get a lot of grief for, well, being Courtney Love, but when she’s good she’s very, very good, and this duet is perhaps her best work since the glory days of Celebrity Skin. She’s a star, and this is a tune with a capital T. Good work, Mr Wildheart.
Blackberry Smoke - Let Me Help You (Find the Door) If you were to chart the rise of line-dancing rockers Blackberry Smoke on a graph, with time shown on the X axis and success on the Y, the curve would be still be heading north, and perhaps off the chart altogether. This is the first release from next year’s Holding All the Roses collection, which we’ve ordered on yellow and red “fire” vinyl, because we’re suckers for stuff like that (and because the rose vinyl version was sold out).
Thunder - Wonder Days Thunder are are band with a boisterous, vocal following on Twitter, and we imagine those folk will be delighted with this thrusting hunk of manly-yet-melodic hoo-ha. Perplexingly, singer Danny Bowes and guitarist Luke Morley appear to be wearing identical shirts in the video, which suggests some kind of backstage sartorial stand-off in which neither was prepared to stand down. It’s nice shirt, mind. The January edition of Classic Rock will come with a live Thunder CD.
LTNT - _In The Back Of Your Mind _ We asked Liam from LTNT to tell us about the band’s scary new video, and he came back with, “This is a song I’ve written about something that happened and I’d like everybody to listen to it.” While we admire the straightforward, no-nonsense nature of this response, it didn’t tell us much, so we asked again. This time, Liam was more forthcoming, saying, “Being haunted by the lingering of something lost is very destructive. Mainly because you find comfort in not letting it go. There’s something romantic about it. Both this song and video document that sweet little struggle.” Cripes! Either way, LTNT’s_ ITBOYM_ is a sinister, brooding affair that builds into a lovely old racket. Highly recommended. And we hope everyone listens to it.
The Pearl Harts - Skeletons Made Of Diamonds The biography on the Pearl Harts’ Facebook page says, “all you can think to do is ask them out for ice cream — and all they want to do is wreck your house and firebomb your car.” This doesn’t sound very neighbourly, but once you’ve heard the girls’ rapacious brand of blues rock, it might not be such a surprise. New fans of the duo may be interested to learn that their twitter profile features an excellent photo of the pair immersed in a bath full of diesel.
Devil’s Train - Hollywood Girls It’s just like the glory days of Dave Lee Roth as Devil’s Train (who describe their music as “combining the heavy sound of the 80s with the classic hard rock attitude of the 70s”) gleefully romp their way through a video featuring several bikini-clad ladies. Hollywood Girls is taken from the band’s cleverly-titled second album II, which is unleashed in January.
