With the understandable but constant clamour for new, disposable music, it’s sometimes so comforting to be able to access something familiar, warm and dear to one’s heart!
The Dirty Strangers are a four-piece band from Shepherd’s Bush in London who have friends in high places. VERY high places! How about Sixties Cockney geezer, Joe Brown (of The Bruvvers fame) for starters? No?
OK – what about Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood, then? Yep – the real Keith and Ronnie! Ha! Between them, that impressive triumvirate contributed as guest players to no less than seven of the thirteen tracks on this album. These guys ain’t about to give up their time and effort for just any old rock ‘n’ roll band, now are they?!
In the main, this album is a throwback to the early Seventies UK forerunner to Punk – what was commonly referred to then as Pub Rock. (When I say ‘throwback,’ I do not mean to infer in any way that this music sounds dated. Quite the contrary: as more and more genres and sub-genres of music emerge, this much overlooked brand of ‘original’ R&B – not the guff that has usurped the term nowadays! – once again sounds fresh and invigorating.)
Opening with ‘Talk To Me’ a mid-tempo soulful, anthemic song with vocals in the mould of the so underrated Graham Parker, The Dirty Strangers immediately hook the listener before crashing into ‘Ain’t That Too Much’ a song that exhibits a slight psychobilly feel. This is probably the most untypical track of the thirteen, but it still retains a soulful, bluesy essence.
‘South Of The River’ falls straight back into the pub rock bracket. It reminds me very much of bands such as Ducks Deluxe from back in the day- bands that would sell out smaller venues, have crowds up dancing – and sometimes rucking! – attract much underground critical acclaim, and yet remain largely unknown to the public at large – which of course was terrific for those who liked to keep these bands our ‘special,’ bands, but pretty rubbish really for the bands themselves who had to put food on the table. Sorry – I digress. (Happy days!)
‘Liberty Smile’ has a sort of menacing Bo Diddley beat to it that erupts at the end of each stanza. ‘All Away’ sounds like the amalgam of an Irish pub song and a Country & Western track with the vocals delivered in a spoken manner and some nifty bluegrass inspired banjo work going on over the top of a honky-tonk piano. ‘Bad Girls,’ has the dirty R&B sound of early Dr Feelgood, before the album’s most ‘instant’ song ‘She’s A Real Botticelli,’ kicks in.
To this point, I have deliberately avoided mention of what tracks and instruments the two Rolling Stones contribute, so as not to detract from the work of The Dirty Strangers themselves. And really so far, apart from the original R&B roots there is no obvious connection displayed between the two parties. Only now, at ‘She’s A Real Botticelli’, can any similarity be drawn – the bass line, guitar riffs and verses sounding not unlike the Stones’ ‘Rough Justice.’
And then as the pace slows for the first and only time, and absolutely no input from the two Stones, ‘Love For Life’ sounds remarkably like a generic Rolling Stones acoustic track. The vocals, by way of delivery and accent even sound like Mick Jagger….. with a bit of a sore throat, mind!
‘Survival Dance’ is a terrific dirty blues number with growled vocals contemptuously spat out over the top of some fine piano and harmonica playing. ‘Don’t Come Easy’ crashes in with a guitar riff that Eddie And The Hot Rods would have been proud of, while ‘Gold Cortina,’ continues with that up-tempo pre-punk feel.
‘Nowhere Maybe’ returns to a more rockabilly sound – a little like early Matchbox, maybe? – before the album closes with ‘Just Another Story’ a track that builds in snippets of the song ‘America,’ taken from West Side Story.
If you like your music to be honest, unpretentious, fun, uplifting, danceable, finger-pointing, foot-tapping and sing-a-long, then The Dirty Strangers are going to be your new favourite band. If you don’t, then I’m surprised that you have read this far down!