When ‘Beating the Odds’ comes screaming out of the speakers you already know you’re in safe hands. It’s a steamrolling rocker built on a rock solid riff and a vocal from Mr Finn that thrusts you back a few decades. Indeed ‘Born to Fly’ the album itself sounds just like vintage Jetboy and that’s the best possible news for fans who last saw new original material from the band way back in 1990.
If you’re too young to have been around for the late eighties debut of Jetboy then ‘Born to Fly’ the song gives you a glimpse of what it was all about, a rebel-rousing blues-tinged rocker with big hook and even bigger guitars (checkout that twin guitar solo!), this was the music that shook the Strip and the world and injected fun into the rock scene all too briefly before Grunge sucked all the fun out of everything and taught kids how to wallow in self pity rather than enjoy life and what you have.
The Build to ‘Old Dog New Tricks’ has echoes of one of Jetboy’s greats for me at least in that the intro captures a little of ‘Snakebite’ the song from ‘Feel The Shake’ their debut that I always used to request at the Rock Bar I frequented as a teenager. It’s another great stab of dirty Rock and Roll and together with that opening pair it makes as essential an opening to a new album as you’ll have heard in many a year.
‘The Way That You Move Me’ takes the mood right down, it’s a slow ballad that has a certain 70’s flavour, injected with a Stones-like approach and a dash of soul, it’s a song that first time sounds a little out of step, but the deeper you get into the variety that the album throws up the more it makes sense, like everything here though it certainly works for me.
‘Brokenhearted Daydream’ is essentially a ‘frayed-at-the-edges’ Pop song with A Seger-Mellencamp axis that is just pure gold, and ‘Inspiration From Desperation’ a call to arms that has a very cool groove and comes across like a Tesla-take on a protest song. Again it just works!
The only song that didn’t grab me fro the off initially is ‘All Over Again’ it’s a nice enough song and contextually fits like a glove and even sports some of my favorite guitars on the record but as a song it just fails to click. ‘She’ on the other hand is sparse and to the point and impossible to resist with Mickey Finn coming across all ‘Steven Tyler’ and Billy Rowe and Fernie Rodd just sublime on guitars.
‘A Little Bit East’ holds that Tyler-esque gravel in the voice and runs all the way with the groove, as down and dirty as you please and with a wonderful funky thrust that underpins a number of songs here! But there’s more! ‘Every Time I Go’ changes things up again – it’s a smooth mid-tempo rocker that eschews the smokey bar for the Blue skies! It’s a wonderfully uplifting song and another winner.
On an album of contrasts it’s the funky southern-fried Blues of ‘Smoky Ebony’ that adds even more flavour to what was already a rather tasty dish. The final word though goes to ‘Party Time!’ a what a fitting way to end what has been a glorious comeback – an anthem to the working man that will resonate with everyone who’s ever worked the 9 to 5 grind.
Jetboy’s original core members guitarists Billy Rowe, Fernie Rod and vocalist Mickey Finn haven’t missed a trick here -an amazing 29 years after their last all original release they have picked up exactly where they left off, but better than that, the intervening years have clearly given them an edge they may not even have had back in the day. This is an album that takes that simple age old template of stripped back Bluesy Rock and Roll, injects it with a litte Blues, a 70’s style less-is-more attitude and a damned fine set of songs. I said to Billy when we spoke last week that it may be only January but this is already my album of the year. Let’s see if it’s still there come December!
The last words in the press release say simply “Jetboy is ready to fly again” – that’s all you need to know, this is a fantastic album.
Tracklisting: 1. Beating The Odds | 2. Born To Fly | 3. Old Dog, New Tricks | 4. The Way That You Move Me| 5. Brokenhearted Daydream | 6. Inspiration From Desperation | 7. All Over Again | 8. She | 9. A Little Bit Easy | 10. Every Time I Go | 11. Smoky Ebony | 12. Party Time!
JETBOY Lineup:
Mickey Finn – Lead Vocals + Harmonica
Fernie Rod – Rhythm + Lead Guitar + Vocals
Billy Rowe – Rhythm + Slide Guitar + Vocals
Eric Stacy – Bass
Al Serrato – Drums
Check out our Interview with guitarist Billy Rowe here
