First of all let me start by saying I always thought Tora Tora had a little bit more than most of their contemporaries back in the day, and hearing the news that a new album was on the way made my day even with a gap of 27 years between this and my favourite, their second album ‘Wild America’. Indeed Tora Tora were one of a handful of bands on my 80’s musical bucket list a decade ago when I regularly used to trek back to the US to catch Festivals like Rocklahoma where they played in 2008. On that day they, for me at least blew everyone off that stage. So how does ‘Bastard of Beale’ stand up to those first two classic releases ‘Surprise Attack’ and ‘Wild America’? Well the answer is remarkably well…
The opening track on Tora Tora’s long awaited ‘Bastards of Beale’ ‘Sons of Zebedee’, presumably refers to Jesus’ disciples James and John who’s father was Zebedee. And whilst the song opens up with some wailing guitars, a nice bluesy groove and all the hallmarks that made vintage Tora Tora so special, I just can’t see myself singing along to a chorus that wails ‘We’re the Sons – of – Zeb – edee, Sons – of – Zeb – edee, Sons – of – Zeb – edee.’ Now presumably it’s a call to arms, an intonation to follow, but sadly to us who grew up in the UK and Europe of a certain age, ‘Zebedee’ conjures up images of a cartoon jack-in-the-box from the kids TV show ‘Magic Roundabout’.
So imagine my surprise when I glanced at the other song titles like ‘Giants Fall’; ‘Son of a Prodigal Son’ and ‘Rose of Jericho’ – at first glance I thought I had the track-listing to a Stryper album with all those biblical allusions. The truth is of course that music and spirituality and mysticism have always been intertwined, and Tora Tora’s new album ‘Bastards of Beale’ is a heady mix of Blues and Hard Rock from the heart, its cut from the same cloth that made both their harder edged debut ‘Surprise Attack’ and it’s bluesier follow up ‘Wild America’ so indispensable.
So getting back to the tracks: ‘Giant’s Fall’ is a monster, built on a mountain-high groove and stands up well against their early catalogue, really hitting the spot with its addictive refrain. Corder’s voice seems to have nothing over the yeas and the chemistry of the original line-up is still there despite the distance between recordings. ‘Everbright’ that follows offers up a few choice Zeppelin-isms that really fit wonderfully well inn the bluesy mix; whilst ‘Silence the Sirens’ is maybe even better as it amps up proceedings and recalls the glory days before ‘Son of a Prodigal Son’ dabbles with a little Country-leaning sound that isn’t at all out of place in context.
Deeper down the soulful and heartfelt ‘Lights Up The River’ is just one of those songs that sounds so perfectly suited to Corder’s voice and like some of the huge ballads or slower epic numbers like ‘Phantom Rider’ or maybe ‘Being There’ did back in the day. If you loved them then you’ll love this. After that ‘Let Us Be One’ chugs and stutters with that dirty blues that really hits the spot and ‘All Good Things’ just lets rip with Tora Tora’s take on barroom boogie.
That leaves just three to close: ‘Rose Of Jericho’ which rocks out and riffs on the history of Rock and Roll, which is of course rather special to those in Memphis and Beale Street that some would argue is the spiritual home of both blues and Rock n Roll. It’s a great song, and whilst ‘Vertigo’ the instrumental that follows is kinda cool, it rater loses the momentum of the album and if I’m honest could easily have been left off. The title track and closer ‘Bastards Of Beale’ picks up the pace and tells the tale of the historic street, it’s a fine song and a compelling lyric that has bluesy touches of Aerosmith about it.
Sometimes you listen to an album like this and you feel a wave of emotion, a huge rush of love that comes with the knowledge that a band you so admired back in your youth has not missed a beat and taken up just where they left off. But with that love there’s also a tang of pain too, especially when you contemplate just for a moment how much wonderful music and how many great songs we’ve missed out on in what is now close to three decades since ‘Wild America’.
Tora Tora are back, and I already want more.