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<\/a>It seems like only yesterday that RPM top boy Dom Daley and myself were watching Glen Matlock, Earl Slick and Slim Jim Phantom deliver a very promising headlining set on one of the side stages at the annual Rebellion Festival in Blackpool. It was, however, four years ago\u2026so that\u2019s how long I\u2019ve been waiting to finally get to hear what this trio actually sound like on record.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
That live appearance was certainly a tough one to try to pigeonhole, largely because whilst it was an infectious blend of all three musicians\u2019 previous bands along with elements of some of their key influences, it also included their take on Pharrell Williams\u2019 ‘Happy’, an audacious curveball for any reviewer to try and get to grips with if ever there was one. Thankfully Glen Matlock decided well ahead of the release of \u2018Good To Go\u2019 to come out and badge the dozen tracks he\u2019s recorded here with Slick and Phantom as \u201cloud skiffle\u201d, a genre he has apparently wanted to try since seeing Bob Dylan at the Albert Hall a few years back.<\/p>\n
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Dropping the CD into my player the opening 1-2 of \u2018Won\u2019t Put The Brakes On Me\u2019 and \u2018Wanderlust\u2019 get an immediate thumbs up from me with the former a track that has a real 60s strut to it whilst the latter chugs along on a top-notch Slick lick chock full of lip curling attitude. However just as when I saw them live it\u2019s Matlock\u2019s vocal similarity to his Pistol-packing chum Steve Jones that really seals the deal for yours truly. Whilst we are talking of fat cockneys who like to sit around in swimming trunks \u2018Sexy Beast\u2019 is the first out and out rock and roller containing some trademark Slim Jim stick work and it\u2019s a track that really wouldn\u2019t look out of place on an Urban Voodoo Machine album with one hell of a catchy call and response chorus.<\/p>\n
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Elsewhere for your entry money, we get \u2018Speak Too Soon\u2019 which contains a wonderful Bowie-esque vibe whilst \u2018Hook In You\u2019 swaggers and sways on a dirty way past midnight 12 bar refrain. It\u2019s at the midway point of the album though that I have to admit starting to feel a little bit of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu creeping into \u2018Good To Go\u2019, but then up pops \u2018Montague Terrace (In Blue)\u2019 totally out of the blue (ouch) and yeah that\u2019s the sound of me picking up my jaw back up off the floor. Tracks as sumptuous as this are exactly why the album format will always live long with serious music fans as this brooding bastard of a torch song is the main reason this record has been on constant loop on my stereo of the last few weeks. You really must listen to it all in sequence to get it though, okay?<\/p>\n
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As \u2018Good To Go\u2019 reaches the home straight \u2018Strange Kinda Taste\u2019 and album closer \u2018Keep On Pushing\u2019, both bring to mind the kind of thing Ian Hunter does these days, in so much that this is music that the musicians have grown into over their long and varied careers, and they sound very comfortable in their skin. Yes, it\u2019s ultimately rock \u2018n\u2019 roll music (which I guess is what \u201cloud skiffle really is anyway) but with \u2018Good To Go\u2019 Glen Matlock is certainly not trying to swindle you into thinking it\u2019s anything else. Great stuff!<\/p>\n