goldblade - rebel songs
4th album from media star brother john robb and his latest incarnation of slicked back punk rock saviours which has been out for a while now, but needs to be mentioned and listened to by more. if you dont have any prior knowledge of the goldblade ethos then you need to realise you are missing out on some of the most fun driven punk rock-n-roll ever to step out of a strange space time continuum as the band dress like its 1958, but make music like it's 1978. there was a time when da'blade were on the verge of becoming major crossover stars, but as ever things didn't quite work out when the bands label fell apart. naturally however, john set about sorting out himself and the band and toured the arse off the world. spreading the word, blasting the flick knife fervour far and wide to the degree that the band are apparently huge in parts of eastern europe that have yet to be given names on a map.
so how's this album then i hear you scream in gloriously choreographed unison?
well it's sheer fucking quality, gone are the horn sections, gone are the 'experimental' tracks where they try and realise their desires to be the nick cave of rockabilly. instead, 'rebel songs' consists of 12 tracks of straightforward riffed up call-response pumped up action that will have you stretching the limits of your amplifier/headphones. lyrically there are times i am sure you are meant to be laughing out loud, after all, can you take a chorus laden classic such as 'fighting in the dancehall' seriously when the follow on line is 'f*cking in the streets', i hope not. then again, there are times when you know that the clash styled sloganeering is meant to be converting people over to the cause. and just in case you were wondering what is the cause? old school manifesto driven punk rock of course.
quality adrenalin fuelled noise from start to finish. bring on the mtv special.