Are you with them?
The press info that came with this, The Lad Classic’s second album (their first was a double) was a damn sight more interesting than most.
Where bands usually witter on about how it’s their “best work ever” and tell you how “stoked” they are to be back, the Toronto quartet told their story.
A cautionary tale too. One of a promising band attracting label and management interest, then signing a deal that basically ruined their momentum, put their lives on hold – and cost them money to extricate themselves from.
It nearly cost them more than that. It nearly cost them the band.
But, as the proverb says, from out of the darkness cometh light. And after a couple of years of legal wrangles they are back – and not just intact – they are returning with a 13 tracker, called “Rectifier” which absolutely sets right the wrongs.
Indeed you can almost feel the cobwebs being dusted off on “Hip Shaker”, a work of bluesy soul that recalls The Black Crowes, but this isn’t a record to dwell on one thing. Two years, after all, is a long time and there is much to do.
“Are You With Me?” doesn’t so much as find its feet as knock you off yours with a massive wrecking ball of a groove, but it’s “Halfway To Memphis” that convinces that this record is a little different from the retro rock norm that you might have been forgiven for assuming this was going to occupy.
A track that lays bare their struggles and tribulations, it has echoes of the Aussie arena botherers Powderfinger and is absolutely a prime example of what a huge loss The Lad Classic would have been if they had been forced to call it a day.
“The Night” has similar big intentions, and TLC have a knack of writing catchy hooks that many bans would kill for. The bass of Tyson Hiseler is to the fore on “Who” which is built around a filthy funky groove, and there is a soulful flourish to “Kitchen Sink” which sees Paul Stephens bring the vocal dexterity around a song that is better than anything on the last few Rival Sons records.
It is strange perhaps that although Canadian, MV can’t help thinking of the gritty rock n roll of Australia when listening to The Lad Classic. There is something of the wonderful You Am I about the guitar work on “I’ve Got Your Sympathy” for example.
There is not much demur about “Rectifier” but the last three showcase a gentler side. “Heart Of Mine” is a fine ballad, and “Star Shooter” is a kind of foray into Bad Company type areas, but both are done superbly, while “Summer Song” is a beautiful acoustic strum to ostensibly finish things. Except what it does is to lead the record into three acoustic versions of songs that are already on the album, with “….Memphis” particularly impressive.
A record that knows it belongs on a bigger stage, and a band with the talent to get to there, The Lad Classic are back, doing it on their own terms and with “Rectifier” they are making up for lost time.
Rating 8/10
