I spent last weekend in Paris and got to see AC/DC live for the first time. My professional opinion is that they won't be quitting anytime soon - but I'm a dentist, so what do I know? Vintage Trouble were one of the support groups, taking the stage after Frenchies No One Is Innocent, and I was both surprised and glad to see them. You see they had made quite an impression on me the first time around, when I saw them open for Who on their tour for the 40th anniversary of Quadrophenia. They had taken to the stage like a hurricane, singer Ty Taylor displaying all the energy and stage antics of a young James Brown, prancing up and down the stage, getting lost in the audience, spinning around himself while the band played really loud rock'n'roll. After the show, the most hotly wanted item in the souvenir stand wasn't any of The Who paraphernalia, but this (their only, so far) CD. Last weekend's performance was slightly less impressive, maybe due to he size of the huge Stade de France arena - or maybe it was the effect of my sitting too far from the stage. Compared to the live experience, their CD is a more pared-down affair, offering soulful retro R&B/Rock a la Animals, Faces, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke etc. Opener "Blues Hand Me Down" is the closest the album comes to capturing the band's manic onstage energy, sounding like MC5 jamming with Wilson Pickett or -to use a more modern analogy- like Detroit noisemakers the Dirtbombs. "Still and Always Will" has a Creedence choogle (whatever a choogle is) and "Nancy Lee" (released as a single) is a strong rocker - maybe Black Crowes would sound like that if they really were black. "You Better Believe It", Jezzebella" and "Total Strangers" are more blues-inspired classic rock of the Rolling Stones/Led Zeppelin school, complete with dirty rock guitar and the occasional blues harp. On the other end of the spectrum, the second single "Nobody Told Me" is sweet soul a la Al Green. Taylor's warm silky voice is further showcased on other ballads like "Gracefully", "Not Alright By Me" and "Run Outta You". What I can't figure out is how come the band wrote all these songs in a few months and recorded them in three days, yet despite all the intense touring they have yet to produce a follow up. I know they're not lazy 'cause I've seen them sweat their asses off on stage. Writer's block maybe?
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| Vintage Trouble at the Stade de France, Paris 23/05/2015 |
**** for Blues Hand Me Down, Nancy Lee, Nobody Told Me, Jezzebella
*** for Still and Always Will, You Better Believe It, Total Strangers, Run Outta You
*** for Still and Always Will, You Better Believe It, Total Strangers, Run Outta You
**for Gracefully, Not Alright By Me
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