“Life is like a license, to do what you please”.
Now, you could, if you want, make a remark about how that only applies if you are a Conservative politician, or advisor to one of them, but I wouldn’t dream of it….
What it actually is, is the first line of “Holding Back” – the first single on “Too Many Questions: The Abbey Road Masters” – and one which encapsulates the Dead Dirty Dinosaurs sound.
The riff, has a chugging, sort of Springsteen circa-“State Trooper” feel and, if it doesn’t explode, ever, then it does brood with a real menace. Like you wouldn’t want it stood behind you at the ATM, that sort of vibe.
DDD are tough to pin down, in truth. Released on a punk label, but with self proclaimed dreams to support The Pixies, there’s more than a pinch of post punk stuff too. “Revenge” sort of lurks, like it is going to break out at any point, while “Bad Timing” would be just as happy on a Slow Readers Club record as it would be anywhere else.
According to the band biography, the “three [ are ] Jurassic music lovers who met in the snow fields of Europe but ended up brought together here by a force that can’t be ignored. And its fair to say that there’s a more Euro feel to these four songs than anything Australian.
Take “Monica” for example, it begins with some guitar work that has more in common with Billy Bragg in his early days – honestly, you half expect “Love Gets Dangerous” to kick off, but even in his Riff Raff days, the Bard of Barking never quite hit the levels of primal fun that ensue.
Scan this review again, and you’ll see from the scattergun references that this isn’t your normal record (either that or I don’t have a clue how to write a review – I’ll let you decide which) so far better perhaps to let DDD do this in their own words.
“We’re Dinosaurs. And We’re Dead Dirty”. Sorted. That’s all the clarity you need.
Rating 8/10
