Happy Monday folks, and welcome to Classic Rock's Tracks of the Week, where you'll find fresh musical delights aplenty. Bloomin' tonnes of you voted in last week's poll, placing the following into your top three, in reverse order:
3. Von Hertzen Brothers - Jerusalem
2. Greta Van Fleet - When The Curtain Falls
1. Palaye Royale - You’ll Be Fine
Congratulations to first prize winners Palaye Royale! And to Greta Van Fleet and the Von Hertzens who also scored loads of votes to reach second and third places. Now, feast your eyes and ears upon this week's round-up, consume, judge and vote for your favourite.
We're taking a little break over Christmas so this will be our last TOTW until January 2nd (our first day back), after which our next one will be Monday 14. We hope you enjoy this last selection of songs for the year, and thanks so much for tuning in every week – it's been real.
But first things first, how about a listen to last week's winners before the new round of face-melting, mind-bending and rocking out commences? Ooh go on then, here's Palaye Royale...
Rival Sons – Feral Roots
We’re kicking off with the swishily psychedelic title track from Rival Sons’ new album this week. Starting gently with Zeppelin-y acoustic lines and especially lush strummed chords, it grows into a big, amped-up affair in time for the chorus. You’ll find rock’n’roll, folky mystique and just the right amount of freak-outs that make just under six minutes fly by.
Monster Truck – Devil Don’t Care
The shitkicking Canadians go all bluesy on this hearty shuffle from latest album True Rockers. We saw them play it at Wembley Arena the other night and it was frickin’ ace, so we were delighted to see this official lyric video had been released. Rugged yet melodious, it’ll banish any Monday blues and have you reaching for the old harmonica in your drawer (or your guitar) in a heartbeat.
Badflower – Heroin
Is it a song about toxic relationships, through the metaphor of heroin? Or vice versa? We’re not sure, but either way this single from California’s Badflower is a hard-hitting winner. Part Bends-era Radiohead, part 90s grunge, part new-generation pop punk (complete with video co-starring Johnny Galecki, aka Leonard from The Big Bang Theory) it’s got a mix of smooth melody and noisy edginess that just might lead to something bigger...
Steve Hackett – Under The Eye Of The Sun
We’re taking a turn into proggier - but still righteously rocking - waters with the new single from the Genesis man’s upcoming solo album At The Edge Of Light (out in January). If you like a bit of Yes in your life, as well as Hackett’s solo and band works, you’ll thoroughly enjoy the mix of searing lead guitar lines, fiddly bass activity and spacey vocal harmonies. Nice.
Greystone Canyon - Take Us All
Moody grunge-laced hard rock now from heaviest Melbourne, Australia. It's beefy, earnest stuff (definitely a touch more brooding and metallic than the likes of AC/DC and Rose Tattoo that typically first come to mind when the words 'Aussie rock' are mentioned) but spiced up with select twin-lead and solo flourishes. Taken from While The Wheels Still Turn, which is out now.
The Smashing Pumpkins – Silvery Sometimes
The Chicago alt rock heroes recently appeared on Jimmy Kimmel for a set, from which this highlight is taken. Billy Corgan struts around like a hybrid of Uncle Fester and David Bowie, lending a space-age quality to an otherwise brooding display of alternative rock and shoegazey contemplation.
Black Whiskey – Dry Bones
Fancy some chunky classic rock riffage, with a side of Native American mysticism? Go on then. This new one from the British rockers was inspired by some cool phraseology in texts about the Comanche tribes, as singer Simon Gordon explains: “If I can put on my pretentious hat for a moment, it’s about the whole transience of human existence – put to a hard rock riff!! Ha!”
Jacob Reese Thornton – Run Rudolph Run
It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that rock’n’roll Christmas songs have the potential to be great or very shit (and frequently they’re the latter). So it was with a mix of suspicion and curiosity that we checked this out (kid guitarist does Chuck Berry’s festive classic? Hmm, how will one this go…). But whaddya know? Jacob Reese Thornton does a pretty damn good job. He’s a quality player and strikes just the right balance of catchy cheese and actual rocking out.
