The Quireboys: This Is Rock ’N’ Roll II

Dusted down and repackaged gem.

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Originally released in 2001, This Is Rock ’N’ Roll is, arguably, the album that should have followed debut A Bit Of What You Fancy, rather than 1993’s Bitter Sweet & Twisted.

In 2000, after a lengthy break during the 90s, Spike and guitarist Guy Griffin got together to knock out a few tunes and found the songs flowing easily and swiftly, prompting a deal with Sanctuary Records and one of the band’s best, most coherent albums. The raucous opening title track, defiant Turn Away and blazing C’mon champion good times in a post-grunge landscape, while the slow-burning To Be and world-weary Searching find Spike turning on the emotion after too much red wine.

This reissue throws in bonus re-recordings of Misled, Hey You, 7 O’Clock and There She Goes Again from this year, but, ultimately, it’s the sound of the Quireboys hitting their stride once more that makes this essential./o:p

Essi Berelian
Essi Berelian

Whether it’s magazines, books or online, Essi has been writing about rock ’n’ metal for around thirty years. He has been reviews editor for Classic Rock and Metal Hammer, rock reviews editor for lads mag Front and worked for Kerrang!. He has also written the Rough Guide to Heavy Metal and contributed to the Rough Guide to Rock and Rough Guide Book of Playlists, and the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles (13th edition). Most fun interview? Tenacious D – Jack Black and Kyle Gass – for The Pick of Destiny movie book. An avid record/CD/tape collector, he’s amassed more music than he could ever possibly listen to, which annoys his wife no end.