I never expected an album like this so close to the end of the year to come and steal top spot at a canter but here it is. I’ve been a fan of Tim Henwood’s music since the Plasticine days and loved his work with The Superjesus and The Androids but for me Palace of the King is the icing on the cake so far of a career that sees him as the go-to guitarist for so many whilst still managing to create masterpieces like this.
Formed in 2012 Palace of the King are almost teenagers now and as we all know teenagers start to change… Thankfully that’s not a change that POTK is going through just yet, instead we get the same glorious velvety sounds we’ve been enjoying this past decade. It’s taken me so long to write this one because it is one of those albums you just keep playing and with each return you find something new. It’s not just great album it’s an important one.
Opening with the crunch of ‘Children of the Evolution’ we’re thrust into a huge groove and a whirlwind of guitars with a jabbing vocal with a lot of fire in the belly and a nice lyrical nod at old T-Rex.
‘Run For Yor Money’ comes as a complete and funky contrast right out of the 70’s it looks at you sideways with an East Coast attitude and a West Coast cool. It’s a song with just enough space and a wonderful vocal breakdown that gives way to a sustained solo as the band goes wild. It’s heady stuff.
Title track ‘Friends In Low Places’ is bursting with the kind of punky energy that could only have been created by god in a garage. It’s a spiky little song that acts as the enforcer here and its impossible to resist the urge to move along to.
One of my favourite albums last decade was Palace of the King’s ‘Get Right With Your Maker’ and the next track shares that title. It’s the bluesiest number so far after the initial energy, it feels like a safe haven. It’s stunning, wonderfully constructed and has the same DNA as early Black Crowes, the solo is one to raise goosebumps. Everything is right here and the world for a moment is a better place. The keys and backing vocals and that lush breakdown are like the cherry on top of the cake as it drifts away into the night.
The swaggering ‘Down On Your Luck’ adds some wonderful keys to the Southern-tinged bar room swagger. It’s the sort of song you can image Rod and the Faces taking round the block and Georgia Satellites jamming with the Robinsons.
‘Tell It Like It Is’ is grittier, bouncier and is pretty unstoppable as it builds to a climax; and ‘I’m Sorry Blues’ is all attitude and angry guitar with a mile wide stride and funk set to ’10’. No one else could take you on a ride like this in 2024! It really is an instant classic.
There’s a wonderful contract with ‘Tear It Down’ a straight down the line Rocker that owes more to bands like The Angels and Aussie Pub rock that anything else here, but like everything on the record it’s perfectly executed and man that guitar tone!
‘One Of These Days’ is anther built on a huge groove that can’t possibly be anything but a long lost 70’s classic and if you thought we couldn’t turn that dial any higher the closing track ‘Dead End Blues’ is one of the very best here. Shot though with that searing guitar and threaded with Hammond and harp it’s a sonic coalescence of everything in these grooves.
This is soulful, psychedelic, blues infused Rock and Roll at its very best. Palace of the King is in my opinion the finest Rock band in Australia at the moment, but then some of us always knew they were. Ten tracks and not a moment to catch your breath. Man this is Rock and Roll!
9 / 10
Tracklist:
01 Children OF The Evolution
02 A Run For Your Money
03 Friends In Low Places
04 Get Right With Your Maker
05 Down On Your Luck
06 Tell It Like It Is
07 I’m Sorry Blues
08 Tear It Down
09 One Of These Days
10 Dead End Blues
