This week’s Track Of The Week have just choppered into a hot LZ, but guitars are primed and they’re ready to rock. All eight of them.
*The Ann Wilson Thing - Fool No More*
We’re not quite sure what the “thing” in The Ann Wilson Thing is, but Fool No More is exactly what you’d expect: a blues ballad that starts off in rather restrained fashion before clambering skywards to become an epic, swelling, key-changing beast with a guitar solo that rips and snorts and a vocal that suggests Jimmy Page should drop whichever archive he’s currently scouring and instead purchase a first class ticket to Seattle.
Von Hertzen Brothers - Sunday’s Child
One of these days the Von Hertzens will get shipped off to the Maldives for a video shoot. Or Jamaica, or Spain – just anywhere with some heat. Until then, we’ll find the Finnish rockers in beautiful, dramatic, chilly-looking set-ups like this (involving lighthouses, crashing waves and blustery boat journeys); shot for the driving, Coldplay-channelling Sunday’s Child. Thankfully Mikko, Kie and Jonne are made of strong stuff, so they keep their cool throughout. Nice.
Autograph - Every Generation
They turned up the radio in 1984 (with the fabulous Turn Up The Radio, appropriately enough) and now they’re partying like it’s still 1984, with the latest fruit of their new lease of life – which began last year, after a lengthy hiatus. Hearty, huggably cheesy melodic hard rock, it’s a happy way to ring in the weekend.
FingergHalo - Confusion
Fact 1: Judas Priest sent The Human League a telegram of congratulation when they released their electro-pop classic Dare. Why does that matter? Because FingerHalo include a man who wrote much of that album, Jo Callis. Fact 2: Confusion sounds nothing like The Human League, but is instead a spiky, new wave pop-punk hybrid more akin to The Motors or The Rezillos. Fact 3: Jo Callis was also in The Rezillos.
Preacher’s Son - Johnny’s Alright
The video’s opening shot reads ‘This Film Should Be Played LOUD’, which is a fair introduction to this new cut from Irish singer/songwriter/former Ninja Turtles animator Brian Hogan. Rumbling bass leads into stylishly jagged 70s-infused rock’n’roll, complete with ‘oo-lala’s and acoustic strummed sweetness – not quite a ‘turn-it-up-to-11’ job, but definitely up a few notches. Catch Brian and the band on tour across the UK in October.
Sticky Boys - The Game Is Over
Like a hard-rockin’ take on When Johnny Comes Marching Home, The Game Is Over’s video is a finely choreographed affair indeed, featuring three identically-attired long-hairs, some synchronised head-banging, and an extremely annoyed upstairs neighbour. Someone better call the noise abatement people. Whoops, too late.
Palace Of The King - No Chance In Hell
“Palace Of The King is literally like a huge ground-shaking Palace of riffs, soul and rock’n’roll,” says Airborne’s Joel O’Keefe, and he’s a man who knows much of such things. No Chance In Hell is indeed such a beast, full of thrust and bluster, with a riff designed to scare children and a chorus you’ll be screaming at strangers.
The People The Poet - Matchday
With the Rugby World Cup underway, there’s no reason not to include The People The Poet’s Matchday video, for it’s a celebration of the joys of the amateur game featuring lots of Welsh accents, some man-grappling, and a cameo appearance from Motorhead’s Phil Campbell. The song itself is anthemy in a Simple Minds kinda way, but a little more growly as it climaxes.
