Not for nothing is the second song on “Light Em Up” called “Times Are Changing.” Catchier than the flu and a lot more fun. This is nothin’ but a good time.
Look, before we go any further, I love Dead Daisies. I was there on their first UK tour, opening for Black Star Riders.
And I particularly loved their last two records, the Glenn Hughes era, if you will.
But the thing about Glenn is that he’s so magnetic that anything he does is basically The Glenn Hughes show. “…Up” isn’t that.
Indeed, maybe we should say “Times Are Changing” is times are changing back, as it were.
John Corabi is a returning hero. It’s my contention (controversial, I’ll grant you) that Mötley Crüe has two really good albums and a load of good singles. He’s on one of them. And he’s a different frontman and writer than Hughes.
The title track is a case in point: dirty-sounding AC/DC-ish rock n’ roll. Heads down, horns up, and away we go.
And there’s a lot more where this came from. “I Wanna Be Your Bitch” is made for playing live, but it’s also the sound of a band that’s headed back to its roots.
“I’m Gonna Ride” brings bass player Michael Devin (ex of Whitesnake) to the fore, but more than anything, it feels like David Lowy is returning to his roots here, like he’s celebrating Aussie rock n’ roll.
Writing in Muscle Shoals with Marty Frederiksen means there’s a US touch elsewhere. “Back To Zero” slides in, Doug Aldrich a kind of gunslinger here, but the glam “Way Back Home” drips with either an Aerosmith-type sass.
It’s the hinterland, though, a place where this collection returns to again and again, that is the good-time party anthem. “Take A Long Line” comes from a long line of great music, and it belongs, and “My Way And The Highway” has just a bit of Kiss going on. The verses echo “C’mon And Love Me,” certainly.
Everybody here is savvy enough to know that they needed a power ballad. “Love That’ll Never Be” will do you. Bon Jovi would kill for it, frankly.
And speaking of the first band I ever loved, and then the last one here, “Take My Soul” understands that cowboys ride steel horses.
More than anything, this band sounds like it just understands rock ‘n’ roll. Less heavy—in all senses—than the last couple, “Light ‘Em Up” is a good-time rock ‘n’ roll record that goes down as easy as a cold Pepsi Max on a hot summer day.
Under 35 minutes, with no fat and trimmed to the bone, Dead Daisies merely continue their journey to being the people’s band here.
Rating: 8.5/10
