Pity the fool who misses out on this!
Artiste: Ghost Riders
Nationality: American
Album: Five
Year: 2013
Label: Phoenix Records
Genre: Country/Southern Rock
Tracks:
Pray for me
Gettin' my love
Cajun Jesus
Gone with the wind
Own this town
Long live Southern Rock
Mister Manager
Money magnet
Fried chicken baby
My sweet papa
Won't let you down
I pity the fool
An act of murder
You're here
Chronological position: Fifth album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: Spinoff band formed from The Outlaws and The Henry Paul Band
Initial impression: Good heavy southern rock in the style of Skynyrd, Hatchet or early ZZ
Best track(s): Cajun Jesus, Gone with the wind, My sweet papa, Won't let you down, An act of murder
Worst track(s): Fried chicken baby, Money magnet
Comments: First impressions, they say, last, and so it's just as well that I didn't judge this album on the basis of one or two bad tracks. Had I heard only
Money magnet or the godawful
Fried chicken baby from this album I would have probably shook my head, hit delete and said not for me. That would have been a pity, because though this album is slightly flawed and far from perfect, there are some great songs on it and it's definitely worth listening to if you're into southern rock, a bit of country and some downhome rockin' fun. In addition to hard rockers like the two opening tracks there are slower, more laidback fare such as
Gone with the wind and the heartfelt if a little cloying
My sweet papa.
But it's with the incendiary
An act of murder that these guys from down sarth really come into their own, kicking off the cowboy boots for a moment and grabbing their placards while they lay siege to the capital, denouncing the war on terror, and all wars in general. When vocalist Steve Grisham snarls "I'd rather be torn to shreds than to be part of this action", you know he's not just singing someone else's lines: these words come right from the heart. They rock hard too though, and enjoy themselves, as they fly the flag for Dixie in
Long live Southern Rock and go all Creedence in
Cajun Jesus. Just great fun.
Unfortunately though they also seem to know how to write a real turkey. Or two.
Money magnet contains one lyric only: "I'm a money magnet". Yeah. And the rockabilly mess that is
Fried chicken baby is so cliched and contrived that it sets my teeth on edge. Still, they do have the good sense to follow up these two trainwrecks, which come one after the other, with the superb ballad
My sweet papa, and things get back on track quickly. From there on the album never dips, ending on a lovely ballad that bookends it nicely, and the memory of those --- in fairness, only --- two throwaway tracks is already fading.
Overall impression: Good solid southern rock. The South shall rise again!
Intention: May check out their other material. Wonder how those Outlaws sound?
(Note: Sorry, but with "Ghost riders in the sky" and the movie "Ghost rider" taking up every bloody YouTube result I got, I was unable to find even one song from this band, never mind this album.)