{"id":29115,"date":"2026-10-06T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=29115"},"modified":"2026-10-04T23:01:32","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T22:01:32","slug":"the-dirty-strangers-country-n-west-ten-dirty-stranger-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=29115","title":{"rendered":"The Dirty Strangers \u2013 ‘Country \u2018N\u2019 West Ten’ (Dirty Stranger Records)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The latest slab of pure good time rock n roll from the mind n soul of Alan Clayton is with us, and this timeless sound of honest-to-goodness is a burst of sunshine on a rainy day, a kind gesture from an old friend, and, believe it or not, album number seven. Let’s be honest, we know what we’re in for, and that’s exactly why we’re here: it’s honest rock n roll from the heart, no pretence, no bullshit, no new sounds because that’s progress; it’s just the roots of rock n roll poured out of the instruments and into your ears through your speakers. Alan knows the power of rock n roll, and he’s not afraid to use it. In the right hands, it’s the best thing in the whole fuckin’ world, and right from the first song, the class is there to hear, and the good times rinse through the speakers. ‘Learning To Be Legal’ has Alan leading the band through the mid-tempo rocker with a ton of beautiful keys wheezing into the trading of licks before Alan’s slur caresses our ears with the charm of the best bar band in ole London town, dishing up the best night out you could hope for. The production is loose and loud, but the balance is spot on (I don’t know why it’s taken mr Stranger so long to get control of the desk and pull those faders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Turn Of The Tide’ is a rocker borrowed from the best and just oozes class as Guy Griffin duels with John Rollason, ably supported by some wonderful honky tonk courtesy of Micky Gallagher, but hold onto your horses ‘If You Won’t Leave Me I’ll Find Someone Who Will’ is an acoustic tale of love and life with some electric guitar twisted through those big cowboy chords, with Marnie Rollason assisting Alan with some finely placed haunting vocals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Pirates Don’t Get Pensions’ is the cheeky chappie adding some fiddle to his rock n roll elbow. Sure there are obvious Stones n Faces comparisons to be found round plenty of corners throughout the Dirty Strangers’ decades of service, but if you are going to lean on any band you might as well look to the top table and go main line some of the good stuff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it’s some dirty slide n roll you’re after, then turn the speakers up for ‘Shtum ‘, where the band is stripped back and cut loose. The ebb and flow of this album is prominent, and after the storm of ‘Shtum’, ‘Diamonds’ is something of a tough guy’s ballad or a gentler-paced cut. I didn’t see Ronnie Lane featured on the album, but ‘Weekend Treat’ is exactly that, with Lane’s scratch guitar leading the way. ‘Get Wild’ has Griffin back for some more riff-a-rama before the band really does cut loose on ‘Nothing Doing’, sounding like the bastard child of ‘Last Time’, and I love the sound of that rhythm guitar hacking away through an overdriven amp, wonderful stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we head into the final third, it’s that ebb and flow that really works, breaking up the album and changing gears is a beautiful thing. Remember early doors, I mentioned the acoustic ‘If You Won’t Leave Me’ Well, it’s back for the full band treatment, sounding like chucking out time in the best bar on the planet, and I have to mention the lyrics and how bloody charming they are. It’s time to pull up a bar stool, pour yourself another and let Alan tell you a story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Turkey Bone’ is the penultimate offering, setting the tone for Crimbo before the album says adios with the wonderful tone of Brian James, Alan’s great friend, who we sadly lost not that long ago, as they romp through ‘Sheperds Bush City Limits’, adding texture and a fair amount of rock n roll dirt to proceedings and signing off another awesome record from The Dirty Strangers up the R’s n all that, and God bless The Dirty Strangers and all who’ve sailed on board delivering the noise, the beautiful noise over the last 45 years but who cares time is nothing but a number and Brian and Scott Mulvey playing on the closing number is fitting as delving back through those years picking out tunes to strip back and rework has been an absolute triumph and as they say the proof is in the pudding and here is your serving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, I’m going to tell you to buy this record it’ll make your collecting 100% cooler and better sounding, and this self-produced rework is a banger. Buy It!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy Here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author: Dom Daley<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The latest slab of pure good time rock n roll from the mind n soul of Alan Clayton is with us, and this timeless sound of honest-to-goodness is a burst of sunshine on a rainy day, a kind gesture from an old friend, and, believe it or not, album number seven. Let’s be honest, we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29116,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[2914,148,1787,1818,1710,1681,1680,2052],"class_list":["post-29115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-alan-clayton","tag-brian-james","tag-its-a-revolution","tag-new-album","tag-rpm-online","tag-rpmnews1","tag-rpmonline","tag-vinyl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29115"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29117,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29115\/revisions\/29117"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}