I went to watch the Sex Pistols the other week, and they were ace. Frank Carter, as the frontman, was full of attitude and lip curl, but it set me wondering whether, in my lifetime (almost 50 years), rock n roll has been as dangerous since, or will be as dangerous again.
Guns n Roses, maybe. Oasis had a go, but when Nirvana came along, they were supposed to kill rock n roll. How did that work out for you?
All the crap bands were washed away, yes, but the good ones remained. And better ones took their place.
Which brings us to The New Roses. For a decade now, no one has mixed 80s arena rock with their other loves better than these guys.
And “Attracted To Danger” is another example of why.
Album number six kicks off with “When You Fall In Love,” which bursts out with no intro, as if it can’t wait to get going – and it’s all trademark arena-ready choruses and skill.
But there’s another facet to the work of The New Roses (and it’s probably why I like them so much). They are a heartbeat away from being a country-rock band. “Natural Born Vagabonds” wants to be “Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night,” and it does it brilliantly.
More than anything, TNR are just a fantastic band, whatever they do, as “Attracted To The Danger” proves, while the feeling that they are just troubadours is written all the way through “Four Wheels” or “Bring The Thunder.”
This band matters to them. The type of rock that “This Heart” has wears its influences proudly on both its sleeves. Bryan Adams would go Gold for less, frankly.
And over the years, as The New Roses have honed their craft, they’ve grown into brilliant songwriters. “Hold Me Up” – which sees Gill Montgomery from The Hot Damn join in a duet from the classic mould – proves that.
Timmy Rough fronts the band flawlessly, but everything seems a little more polished and expansive this time. When it all works perfectly—as it often does, whether on originals like “Spirit Of A Rebel” or the cover of “Rockin’ In The Free World”—it feels like a mighty thing.
That version of Neil Young is a case in point. They haven’t changed much, but they’ve made it their own. The same is true of their music in general.
The fact that they’ve got fuel to burn and roads to drive, as it were, is underlined again by the lazy, swaggering “Whiskey In The Backseat”. Fists up one last time.
It’s a rock ‘n’ roll staple, so is the rest of it. And if it’s never really gone out of fashion, then neither will it, as long as bands like The New Roses exist.
Whether rock ‘n’ roll is dangerous anymore is a moot point, but sometimes the attraction to it is all that matters.
Rating: 9/10
REVIEW: THE NEW ROSES – ATTRACTED TO DANGER (2024)
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