Hey! today is a good day. why? because today I get to review a new record from Pat Todd & The Rank Outsiders that’s why and those who know just know and those who don’t know…well, nows your chance to get involved and get excited. Patt Todd & the Rankoutsiders, the underground rock ‘n’ rollers from Los Angeles, California are back in top form with a new album. “…There’s Pretty Things In Palookaville…” Hell I never heard of Palookaville but if Todds saying so then I’m a believer, folks. This is one pandemic blues busting album that’s full of high energy that plays on the embryo of all that’s good and great with American rock ‘n’ roll, adding a twist and a turn with every fast and gritty chord.
As per usual from Patt Todd There are no studio sound tricks or autotune, it’s just the sound of a real Rock and Roll band working its ass off in some sweaty studio and knowing they’re capturing and bottling a little bit of that magic we call Rock and Roll.
“…There’s pretty things in Palookaville” shows no sign of writer’s block for Todd with its sixteen songs.
The album sparkles into life with the opening salvo of ‘All The Years #1’ with plenty of punch and a rasping guitar sound its drawing a line in the sand and is like a ray of sunshine through the dark storm clouds. Today is another day and this is how it starts with some positive Rockin attitude. It might be a song that was left off the last album but it’s great that it wasn’t disguarded and makes for the perfect battle cry on this one.
Time honoured boogie-woogie is the order of the day as some ‘Cheap Nostalgia’ just rocks. Nick Alexander and Kevin Keller both tear it up on guitars, with Steven Vigh on bass and Walter Phelan on drums keeping the engine room hot and rock solid showing great empathy for what they’re playing. Todd does the whole cowpunk thang so well and ‘The World Don’t Care & Neither Does She’ is a great example of that. With ‘Read Em And Weep’ the band kicks back and knocks out an acoustic countrified part ballad and with a wheeze on the old gob iron adding something else to the mix its a welcome change of pace and a terrific song. Simple yet so effective and most welcome. Sit on the porch with friends telling stories and sharing a beer – perfect.
Sixteen tracks is a lot to get through but with it being a Pat Todd album the ebb and flow is always a given and you get the ballsy rockers and the cowpunk but you also get the out and out hootenanny as ‘To Get The Monkey Off My Back’ is one slap of the thigh in that direction. What Todd does really well is when he does the power pop Stonesy vibe of ‘Turn Back The Hands OF Time’ with some lovely chord picking and a sixties shuffle it’s a real highlight.
You also get a delve deeper into the classic American songbook with some 50’s Rock and bop with ‘Little Jael’ followed by possibly my favourite on the album ‘True Romance’ with its sped up-tempo this one just soars with a great melody. Just a great song with loud guitars and great lyrics. ‘Theda #2′ is a little Keith and Mick from the mid-70s’ simple as that. Why fuck around when you happen across a cool riff and a backbeat then sprinkle some cool lyrics over the top its wise to just get it down on tape and tip the hat and move on. Pat Todd gets that and does it so well.
Yehaw! ‘Nothing But Excusses’ is another brush with that good ole cowpunk with more emphasis on the cow than the punk. The record finishes on an impressive and loud one-two with ‘Way Deep Down In Your Heart’ brimming with energy and riding a great hook before closing off the record with ‘They’re Wrong/ Dead Wrong’ a real steamroller of a song packing plenty of punch to close off what is a perfectly rounded record full to bursting with variety, charm and most of all bloody good songs. What more could you want from your records?
Pick it up without delay from Hound Gawd! Records Here
Author: Dom Daley
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