How exactly are Quireboys fans going to react when they behold the veteran Brit rockers’ new dubstep-meets-polka direction, one wonders? Can devotees possibly be ready for such an unexpected betrayal? This simply will not do, Spike!
We jest, of course. Black Eyed Sons deviates not one inch from the band’s usual template, wherein music stopped evolving in 1974 and rock’n’roll is forever the preserve of chain-smoking lotharios with a penchant for all-night lock-ins at the local boozer. This, it hardly needs pointing out, is actually a pretty sensible approach, which has borne far tastier fruit than expected since the band’s second crack of the whip began back in 2001.
The swaggering, woozily philosophical likes of Double Dealin’, Troublemaker and You Can Never Tell are easily the equal of anything from A Bit Of What You Fancy, and Hammond-drenched ballads like Julieanne and Mothers Ruin are sublime.
And yes, Spike sounds ever-more weather-beaten and liable to fall off his barstool, but his lifelong Rod Stewart tribute shows no signs of going stale. Long may the ’boys wear their blinkers with pride.
