If rock & roll was a child she'd be endlessly caught between being told to be authentic ("No, honey, don't try and sing like you're from Memphis, you're from Goole...") and arty-farty archness ("I want just a tincture of koto here..."). Basically what Kate Rusby might have become if she'd been raised by Brian Eno. Thank Jebus, then, for this debut album from The Temperance Movement.
The Temperance Movement - The Temperance Movement (2013)
Blues Rock | Earache Records
Lossless | FLAC | unmixed | 2013 | 51:23 | 315 Mb
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Tracklist:
01. Only Friend
02. Ain't No Telling
03. Pride
04. Be Lucky
05. Midnight Black
06. Chinese Lanterns
07. Know For Sure
08. Morning Riders
09. Lovers And Fighters
10. Take It Back
11. Smouldering
12. Serenity

In an age of po-mo "Let's see what 60s surf music sounds like if Satan was in charge of vocals" or lo-fi obsessions with origins and authenticity, The Temperance Movement just get on and make a noise. And even if there have been numerous recent reboots of 'Let's Party Like Rod Stewart c1972', these Brit cock-rockers at least sound like their having fun. Rather like a bottle of Vat 69 whisky, they're unpretentious, not exactly what you'd serve your most demanding friends, but a quick way to one hell of a time. And, whatever my more discerning colleagues tell me, there is an atavistic part of all of us which wants to check out the smart-alec aesthetics for a night and fool around.

Let's get the obvious out of the way first. If you know your Sticky Fingers-era Rolling Stones, Jeff Beck Group or hanker after classic Faces material this is going to sound awfully familiar. Rather like some of those neo-Thrash bands rebooting 80s Bay Area chops, The Temperance Movement give the disconcerting impression of having melted down some classic vinyl and mainlined it before bedtime. Part of me suspects that several members of this band were orphaned as children and nursed for months at Ronnie Woods' man-breasts.

Essentially, TTM recognize that the fundamental blues-rock template is two-fold: either a) be unafraid to get your overdrive-ridden cahoonas out for all to see or b) take the mood down with a sensual bluesy ballad. Opener 'Only Friend' is emblematic of TTM in balls out mode – crunching tweed guitar and vocalist Phil Campbell singing like an atomic strength case of strep throat beating the living crap out of the local Lockets factory. Add to that lyrics of love and loss and hard times and you have compelling stuff.