To see Robert John And The Wreck is to love them. They’re a throwback in that they are without gimmicks except for being really, really good. So you tell your mates and they come along too.
I can remember hearing them for the first time when they stuck “Last Light on the Highway” out – where had they been? They couldn’t be this good, could they?
Well, yes, to be honest. You cannot like what we have to call “Southern Rock”( whatever it is) and not Love “Stone Cold Killer”. Yes, you have heard it before, but I’ve heard Bon Jovi sing “Bad Medicine” before and it still sounded great when it came on Planet Rock at work the other day.
Essentially, what I am trying to say is, that the best stuff never dates and RJATW are the very best.
“Trouble” kinda proves my point. Catchy, classy, and a solo from Henry James Schneekluth that is from the Premier League.
He’s back at it on “Ballad Of A Broken Hearted Man” playing slide over a full-on Blues number, indeed, the band is in such form here.
And whilst they’ll never lose their fans, there’s a bit of growth here – Robert Jon himself has called it a “new chapter”. More soul, maybe, on “Red Moon Rising” itself, a touch of Muscle Shoals, and there’s a groove, a stomping swagger to “Dragging Me Down” which says that she won’t win. It’s heavier than normal too, getting to Black Stone Cherry territory.
Earlier this year The Black Crowes made a triumphant return, everything I’ve loved about this music for over 30 years. I can pay “Hold On” no higher compliment than to say it would have made “Happiness Bastards” even better, and let’s be honest here, if I say “Down No More” sounds like the Allman Brothers, then RJATW say “thanks”. And if I make one prediction here it’s this: They’re playing it live.
The soul is back on “Help Yourself” and the piano of Jake Abernathie gets its chance to shine. “Worried Mind”, on the other hand, changes the pace, invoking the spirit of Gram Parsons as it does. Wide-screen, it conjures up images of the desert sky as it rolls on.
And that thing about the “throwbacks”? It extends to the sound too. More than just timeless, “Give Love” surely was recorded in 1967 in San Francisco, as warm as the Summer Of Love and blissed out, its sentiment makes sense more than ever.
That ends the album, but it effectively allows itself an encore. “Rager” is well-named and the way Schneekluth cuts loose for the solo is a joy to behold.
“Hate To See You Go” pulls off a neat trick. It is simultaneously both what you thought a song with that title on this album would be, and also brilliant. In that respect, it brings things full circle.
With every release – whether it’s a full album like this one or a collection of EPs put together as they’ve done before, Robert John and the Wreck are the masters of the idea of “the more things change the more they stay the same” – that is to say, they retain true to their “sound” while evolving. On “Red Moon Rising” they prove yet again they are not just one of the best southern rock-sounding bands around, but one of the best bands we have, full stop.
Rating 9.5/10
