There is something reassuring about a band that knows exactly what it is, what it does well, and sees absolutely no reason to complicate matters unnecessarily.
The Milk Men are one of those bands.
Now on their seventh album, The Milky Way, they have reached the point where everything sounds effortless. That, of course, is usually the result of a lot of hard work, but this record carries itself with the air of four blokes who turned up, plugged in, found a groove and decided to stay there for 11 songs.
“Waiting For Some Rock’n’Roll” gets things moving with precisely that attitude. It grooves, it swings, and when Jamie Smy asks, “Tell me what you do when the sun goes down?” you suspect the answer might be best left unexplored. This is rock’n’roll stripped back to its essentials. Think ZZ Top, only relocated to somewhere with worse weather.
“Son Of A Gun” is timeless, catchy and wonderfully loose-limbed, while “Down In The Hole” underlines how distinctly British The Milk Men remain. You cannot really imagine Billy Gibbons singing about the “telly”, after all.
That little detail matters because, although the influences here are obvious enough, The Milky Way never feels like some exercise in retro cosplay. These are songs rather than museum pieces.
“Loving You Baby” is warm, summery and even a little funky around the edges, while “Give It Up” is one of the short, sharp boogies that form the backbone of the album. “Little Devil” heads further back into the 1970s, but again, The Milk Men play this stuff with such ease that nothing sounds forced.
That relaxed confidence might be the defining feature of The Milky Way. Adam Norsworthy explained that while the last record was “lean, tough and punchy”, the intention this time was to add more colour and shades between the rock’n’roll.
Mission accomplished.
“Another You” slows things slightly, offering something more reflective and carrying a hint of The Faces in its easy-going warmth. “Jimmy The Weasel”, meanwhile, feels instantly familiar, and Norsworthy’s guitar work throughout is superb. Never flashy for the sake of it, always playing for the song.
And songs are what matter here.
At their heart, The Milk Men write lovely three-minute pop tunes disguised as blues rock. “Nothing On You” is another fine example of that ability to make something sound simple without ever making it sound slight.
“I’ve Been Losing” adds harmonica to proceedings and, as harmonicas tend to do, immediately takes things towards the wrong side of the tracks. Even if, in this case, there is someone “dreaming of a Maserati”. Rock’n’roll aspiration comes in many forms, apparently.
“Evergreen” closes the record with a bluesier feel, organ and guitar meshing beautifully as the album rolls to its conclusion without ever outstaying its welcome.
Even the artwork continues the throwback theme. The cover was designed by Mark Wilkinson, whose work has appeared on releases by the likes of Iron Maiden, Marillion and Judas Priest. It fits because The Milky Way feels proudly connected to another era without being trapped by it.
Jamie Smy, Adam Norsworthy, bassist Lloyd Green and drummer Mike Roberts have made an album that sounds exactly like a band letting its hair down — or, as Norsworthy joked, what they have left of it.
There is no grand reinvention here. No desperate attempt at relevance. Just four musicians sounding entirely comfortable in their own skin, playing rock’n’roll with swing, warmth, wit and some genuinely fabulous guitar work.
Sometimes that is more than enough.
8.5/10
