Page 39 - Classic Rock (January 2020)
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TOP 5
BLUES Bruce Springsteen
ALBUMS
tales of blonde chicks throwing down a man busting open his horizons and
in the diner parking lot – and by rights leaving the old-school blues rock to the
Words: Henry Yates
it should have sounded ridiculous in the white guys in shiny suits. DE
hands of these old stagers. But such was WALTER TROUT Killer track: This Land
the Cats’ exuberance – and undimmed 1 Survivor Blues
virtuosity – that moments like the MASCOT/PROVOGUE RAMMSTEIN
screeching Cat Fight (Over A Dog Like Me) Tracked by the 6 Untitled
and Rock It Off spoke of quiffs, lips, fists reaper-cheating SPINFARM
and crotches, not enlarged prostates. Long bluesman and his 2019 was the year in
may they prowl. HY band, Survivor which Rammstein put
Killer track: Cat Fight (Over A Dog Blues bled with an
on perhaps the most
auth
Like Me) enticity that spectacular outdoor
elevated it above a workaday covers show the rock world
GARY CLARK JR album. On revved-up spins through has ever seen. But while
7 This Land Luther Johnson’s Woman Don’t Lie most bands carving such a fiery path
WARNER BROS and Sunnyland Slim’s horribly through Europe’s stadiums would be
The past few years relevant Be Careful How You Vote, this relying almost entirely on their back
haven’t been short of was the sound of an artist not just catalogue, Rammstein’s latest album was
Trump-centric protest surviving, but flourishing. front and centre. Nobody really seemed
songs, but few have to know if it was untitled or self-titled, but
sounded as incendiary KENNY WAYNE it didn’t seem to matter, because it was
e title track of Gary 2 SHEPHERD peak Rammstein.
as th
Clark Jr’s fifth album. The breathtaking The Traveler MASCOT/PROVOGUE A decade on from Liebe Ist Für Alle
blast of rage found the shapeshifting Texan Da, it was business as usual – and what
drawing inspiration from the fire and fury PP ARNOLD business. Deutschland hammered like
of modern hip-hop artists such as 3 The New Adventures Of… AC/DC on steroids, and was accompanied
Kendrick Lamar, and painting a seething EARMUSIC by a controversial video that brought
picture of what it’s like to be African- some of German history’s bleakest
American in the midst of an unspoken BIG DADDY WILSON moments to harrowing life, while Ausländer
cultural civil war: ‘Fuck you, I’m America’s son, 4 Deep In My Soul RUF thumped like a Eurovision banger and was
this is where I come from.’ The rest of This Land accompanied by a controversial video that
might not be as incendiary, but it was no HENRY’S featured plenty of tits. Never before was
less revolutionary – the Prince homage 5 FUNERAL SHOE such high-concept art presented with such
Pearl Cadillac and Got To Get Into Something’s Smart Phone Rabbit Hole Till Lindemann, glorious, juvenile glee. FL
whooping garage rock were the sound of SELF-RELEASED Rammstein Killer track: Was Ich Liebe
CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 39
