When talking about Adelaide’s The Babes I once said… “Some bands have that indefinable ‘something’ – an attitude and a belief that both transcends the music they make and also helps define it. The Babes are just such a band.”
The band must have kind of liked it as they stuck the quote up on their site. Since making that comment we’ve seen the band visit the West Coast’s of both the US and Australia and they’ve also managed to hit Japan too. And here it is finally – their first full-length – ‘Dive Bars and Muscle Cars’ and don’t you just love it when you’re right!
One of the things I love about the album is that it comes across almost like a diary of The Babes recent US Tour from the opening fuel-injected hit-the-road anthem and title track that sets us off on the road until we roll to a stop with a mate’s tale of a fallen biker ‘Always Riding’ the sort of well crafted ballad that would have rocked MTV back when it was good.The one thing about this ride though is that you feel its only the beginning.
Along the way you get tales from the road like ‘Full Throttle’ about the Sturgis biker rally and the Saloon there, and then there’s the wonderful headbanging scream-along ‘Doghouse’ that would find the pulse even in a recently deceased rocker. But it’s all good, all made to rock blue-collar, underdog, meat and potatoes rock and roll, and it all tastes mighty fine.
Maybe the best thing though about the album is that you can ‘drop the needle’ anywhere and immediately be transported to the road, clinging on to that bike as it streaks through the night, I swear at times you can feel the wind in your hair! And I just love the attention to detail too,which also says a lot about the band – the CD comes done up like a vinyl album with a booklet like the lyric sheet and CD like an LP and in a miniature plastic sleeve
This is ‘meat and potatoes’ rock at its very best, no frills, let it all hang out rock and roll that hits the spot every time. Music made to be played live.
It is an album a long time in the making too, and you feel that wait has been worth it, there’s not the hint of a filler here. So if you’re a fan of no frills, dirty greasy fuel-injected rock and roll then you will love this. The Babes are a heady mix – there’s certainly some Motorhead in there and I get no little hint of Twisted Sister too, then there’s the grease and gasoline of bands like Circus of Power, a bit of Zodiac Mindwarp and a pinch of Kiss and Ted Nugent. Add to that the feeling that “all that was old is new again” that bands like Monster Truck give you with their Bluesy take on Southern Rock and you still only get a hint of what The Babes have to offer.
This one in contention for being the Australian release of the year for me, and it couldn’t come from a nicer bunch of people either. Aussie rock and Roll is alive and kicking in 2019 thats for sure.
