We are still knee-deep in a glut of gloomy recorded-during-lockdown albums, with grumpy millionaire rock stars moaning about either wearing masks or not wearing them.
Danko and co. recorded an album in these circumstances too, but the affable Canadian rock powerhouse took the opportunity to simply fine-tune their attack and give us all something to celebrate. Pummeling opener I Want Out might have some metaphorical nods to the pandemic, but that’s where the bad times stop rolling.
This album is primo Danko, a relentless surge of high-energy, thoroughly positive, all-hands-on-deck rock’n’roll savagery. There are several odes to dangerous women, but the best track here has gotta be Blue Jean Denim Jumpsuit, a sleazy, slithery headbanger that sounds like some wild Thin Lizzy/GN’R mash-up.
And there’s plenty more where that came from. Twenty-five years on, Danko Jones still deliver the goods.
