Post Description

Artist: Rival Sons
Album: Great Western Valkyrie
Bitrate: 268kbps avg
Quality: EAC Secure Mode / LAME 3.98.4 / -V0 / 44.100Khz
Label: Earache
Genre: Rock
Size: 94.82 megs
PlayTime: 0h 47min 41sec total
Rip Date: 2014-06-06
Store Date: 2014-06-06

Track List:
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01. Electric Man                     3:20
02. Good Luck                        3:18
03. Secret                           4:41
04. Play The Fool                    3:17
05. Good Things                      5:56
06. Open My Eyes                     3:55
07. Rich And The Poor                5:15
08. Belle Starr                      4:35
09. Where I've Been                  6:18
10. Destination On Course            7:06

Release Notes:
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I’ve been a Rival Sons fan for a few years now, having been turned onto them by
a friend who saw them on TV, only to then decline a ticket to a show a few days
after telling me they were so good. So I went anyway, and it was mental. Having
seen most of the “next big things” and the “saviours of rock n roll” over the
last ten years, very few (if any at all actually) have hit the mark, or lived up
to the hype. Poor buggers. They didn’t ask for those tags,and if they did –
shame on them. Rival Sons probably didn’t ask for those tags,but I’m going to
hang it from them, not as an albatross, but as a gold medal.If you’re going to
do classic rock, do it right. That means massive guitar solos, vintage drums
(think a nice Ludwig kit that can breathe in high ceilings, Black Beauty snares
and wildly deep bass drums), driving bass that steamrolls a groove through the
tracks and vocals that sounds like they probably don’t need a microphone in a
packed stadium. Not much of a wish list is it? Well, welcome to Great Western
Valkyrie. It’s Christmas, Rival Sons are Santa, and you’ve been very good this
year.

On Spotify, I’ve made myself a Rival Sons playlist. An ultimate 12-15 track
playlist that’s my ideal greatest hits record, and it fluctuates between weeks,
but I keep it to that number. Great Western Valkyrie is only ten tracks in
duration, but once this is out, I’m going to have to add every single track to
this fictional greatest hits. Regularly, and with many artists, I’m sucker
punched by their albums. You get excited, you hear great things, you go on past
experience, then you listen, and it’s….OK. There’s that ballad that you wish
they’d sobered up for before deciding on the tracklisting, or the “oh
dear…they’ve gone and done a ‘Sex On Fire’ and tried to go stadium”, those kind
of horror show moments. Not here. Rival Sons suffered a blow late last year when
original bassist Robin Everhart decided the touring life wasn’t for him.
Luckily, friend of the band Dave Beste has joined. Either this is the secret –
some new blood in the band, a breath of fresh air – or they just decided to make
one of the greatest rock n roll albums of this millenia. Given that their work
ethic is to keep it fast,they don’t have time to hang around perfecting that
chorus, or tweaking that bridge so it’s more radio-friendly. If it sounds right
– it goes on the record.Vocalist and resident lung-abuser, Jay Buchanan,
recorded previous parts for their records in one take. It’s that kind of deal.
From experiencing this live, they don’t need to be in a studio for long to make
magic.

Great Western Valkyrie opens with teaser track ‘Electric Man’, that’s been doing
the rounds for a month or so now. It’s a great setting for the rest of the
record. It’s a more mature sound, and on LP number four, it’s about the right
time for them to move on to bigger and better things. For those concerned the
band have taken a turn, it’s not dramatic. It’s an emphasised move. It’s Rival
Sons magnified by a thousand. It’s a fun record – there are some serious grooves
on this. You can dance to this record, and you can sit and listen to each and
every instrument one by one for a whole run-through picking out things you
didn’t catch last time round. Everyone is in the mix in the right
place.Guitarist, Scott Holiday, takes cues from everyone from The Sonics to Pete
Townsend to Hendrix. It’s a swag bag of stolen riffs that have gone through the
Rival Sons processor, and come out as original and exciting. If you play any
instrument,you’ll be playing along with this! ‘Good Luck’ is a filthy example,
drowned in fuzz and stadium pompousness, played loudly in a small bar.

One of the best openings and whole tracks on the record is ‘Secret’. If you had
to compare some of the “saviours of rock n roll” from previous years,then
compare their best against this track. I love The Datsuns for example. Do they
have solos? Yes. Do they have belting vocals? Yes. Do they have breakdowns? Yes.
Is it as good as Rival Sons on this track? No. Nearly, but no. A close contender
is the now defunct Soundtrack Of Our Lives from Sweden who were fantastic, but
called it a day a few years ago. The rhythm sections on Great Western Valkyrie
are also worth a mention. The great pairings of Charlie Watts & Bill Wyman
(Rolling Stones), John Paul Jones & John Bonham (Led Zeppelin), Mitch Mitchell &
Noel Redding / Billy Cox (Jimi Hendrix Experience), Nick Mason & Roger Waters
(Pink Floyd) – they’re all great, and I’m not going to sully their legendary
legacies by battling them out with each other, everyone has their preference.
But let’s add to the list; Michael Miley and David Beste. To pinpoint a moment
on the record they have it nailed more than others is impossible. It’s like one
unit just navigating its way around the improvised chaos of Buchanan’s
sky-soaring vocals and Holiday’s effect-driven pulverising riffs. Effortlessly
navigating I might add.

What does Great Western Valkyrie sound like as a whole? It’s hard to say.
Judging by the cover and the way the guys have been dressed, it’s a set of very
stern post-World War II songs set in Germany. It sounds absolutely nothing like
that, I can say that for sure! It’s got grooves, it’s got sex appeal, it’s got
garage and classic rock spilling out of it, it’s got soul and it’s got that
quality that makes people say things like “this is their masterpiece”. And it
is. Great Western Valkyrie stampedes every other record they’ve put out, and
with ‘Open My Eyes’ coming out as a single, it’ll show the diversity between
that and ‘Electric Man’. Throw in the ballad (which doesn’t sound like a waste
of time) ‘Where I’ve Been’ towards the end, and you’re going to be perplexed but
very happy with your decision to take that journey. Just to give yourself a kick
in the face, you’ll listen to ‘Belle Star’ and you’ll probably pop your shoulder
out playing air drums. This record needs a health warning!!!