Performer: Answer, The
Label: Pias Records
Released: 2006
Runtime: 48:03
Rating: 2.5/5
What does classic (blues) rock recorded in 2006 sound like? Exactly the same as it sounded in 1966, 1976, 1986, 1996 and everything in between. The noodling has simply never aimed at anything beyond perfecting playing technique, partying, and the related pleasures of rivals’ envy and the attention (maybe someday?) of the opposite sex. Pretty and empty. Predictable (non-)twists in the songs, syrupy vocals, (too often) heard lyrics, and equally (too often) heard guitar solos. Reading (and mastering) Classic Rock For Dummies somehow doesn’t bring much satisfaction. Totally safely anchored inside their golden hermetic middle ground, which, these days, is perhaps entirely unnecessary.
Look, the guys are technically flawless, even too much so, but that’s pretty much where the good news ends. They drive the final nail into the coffin with a cover of the old blues tune Preachin’, also known as Preachin’ (The) Blues. By the way, they nowhere mention it’s a cover, and the sleeve simply says “all songs written by THE ANSWER”!?! The song is older than their parents, if not their grandparents. Robert Johnson is usually listed as the author, but Son House was playing it around the same time, and he was considered one of Robert Johnson’s mentors back when the latter was just learning guitar. Either way, taking on a cover (like this one!) isn’t always the best decision, though sure, in these instant times it’s one way to get to fame quickly, or at least to approval. After all, Jack and Meg White, the always openly blues-oriented The White Stripes, used the very same formula, but those two know how to play, not just what to play! True, they were always familiar with the work of Jeffrey Lee Pierce, a great connoisseur and lover of that real (Delta) blues culture and other primitive forms of American music, which he demonstrated brilliantly on the sadly overlooked albums of The Gun Club. Still, even without The Gun Club, the key difference is that The White Stripes understand what blues, or rather Blues, actually is, while The Answer act like they haven’t got a clue! It’s not all about image.
“Rise”, as the title of the debut has it, can certainly bring a bit of an uplift, which is perfectly natural in modern, multimedia-soaked, sterile societies that no longer even know blood, sweat and tears in their world. It’s all trash. It’s all noise. So what could the answer even be, the answer, that is, and what was the question in the first place? Simple: welcome to McBlues-Rock!
Lineup
Cormac Neeson – vocals
Paul Mahon – guitar
Micky Waters – bass guitar
James Heatley – drums
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Toby Baker – keyboards (# 4,10)
Choir (#10):
-Julie Roberts
-John Gribbons
-Chris Bollin
-Sylvia Mason James
-Viki St. James
-Derek Green
Production
Avril Mackintosh, Andy Bradfield, Neal Calderwood, Paul Crosshoare, Will ‘Guillermo’ Maya & James Cassidy
Tracklist
01. Under The Sky
02. Never Too Late
03. Come Follow Me
04. Be What You Want
05. Memphis Water
06. No Questions Asked
07. Into The Gutter
08. Sometimes Your Love
09. Leavin’ Today
10. Preachin’
11. Always
