Rival Sons – Pressure And Time
RIVAL SONS
PRESSURE AND TIME
Released June 20, 2011 (Earache Records)
CD Track List:
01. All Over The Road
02. Young Love
03. Pressure And Time
04. Only One
05. Get Mine
06. Burn Down Los Angeles
07. Save Me
08. Gypsy Heart
09. White Noise
10. Face Of Light
iTunes Bonus Track:
11. Company Man
12. This Life On The Road
Band:
Jay Buchanan – vocals
Scott Holiday – guitar
Robin Everhart – bass
Michael Miley – drums
Production:
Produced by Dave Cobb.
Review:
Pressure And Time is the second album from L.A. rockers Rival Sons and is the follow-up to the self-released 2008 effort Before The Fire. Rival Sons are deep mix of various influences that easily include Led Zeppelin, Cream, The Who and Jimi Hendrix… and boy, does it work! Pressure And Time is a sit back and rock out album that will transport you back in time to the glory days of the explosion of cool, hip rock that was the formation of today’s sounds.
“All Over The Road” is a lively, upbeat, and jumpy number that is designed to get your foot tapping and grab your attention — at first it sounds like it won’t amount to much, but that idea is quickly put to rest as the tune continues. “Young Love” follows and you can tell a few seconds in that this is going to be real good song. A certain Mr. Johnny Cash influences this song, no doubt, as it’s catchy and you find yourself singing along with the rest of the band to Jay Buchanan‘s excellent vocals. Third up is the truly excellent title track “Pressure And Time” — if you’re not in that chilled-out head-nodding zone by the end of this track you’re obviously not listening close enough. It is an outstanding number as everything about this song works on every level… guitar, bass, drums and vocals. “Only One” is a mellow and classy dirty blues inspired track before “Get Mine” picks things back up with its fast, pounding and catchy approach — you won’t be able to stop yourself from replaying this number.
“Burn Down Los Angeles” transports you back to the ’70s with the beat and feel while “Save Me” has a slower overall tempo but is another good track with great vocals. “Gypsy Heart” follows, and again the consistency and quality of the tunes on Pressure And Time is apparent. I feel like putting on my flared trousers and decorating my house in strange flowery wallpaper while listening to “White Noise”. The love song “Face Of Light” screams Led Zeppelin with its slower delivery, and even though I normally like the closing song to absolutely smash the ball out of the park, this track does the same thing in a different manner. It just, in a musical sense, brings you down from the funky fuzz distorted ride you’ve just been carried through.
The first of the additional tracks included (depending on where you purchase this fine album) is “Company Man”, is an okay number, but after the main album it feels like the dreaded filler song — hey, at least it came at the end. Lastly is “This Life On The Road”, and to me this sounds like a Cream number — not that that’s a bad thing, it just sounds really busy from a percussion stand point. The song gets better as it goes on and the last minute or so is an absolute delight. Again, it’s a bonus track so I’m not going to complain because it doesn’t detract from the album as a whole.
Pressure And Time is an album full of solid (to good) guitar work from Scott Holiday, some good bass licks from Robin Everhart, and with the percussion of Mike Miley holding it all together. For me though, Jay Buchanan absolutely nails the vocals on this CD and it all just joins together seamlessly. You owe it yourself to get this album as it’s a fantastic slice of retro sounding rock. Grab a drink, put this on and have a happy 37 minutes in your day.
www.rivalsons.com – www.facebook.com/rivalsons – www.earache.com
Reviewed by Chifo for Sleaze Roxx, September 2011
Buy The CD:
Purchase at Amazon.com
Purchase at CDUniverse.com
Purchase at eBay.com
Purchase at iTunes.com