The Sick Rose ‎– Renaissance 1992***

If we were looking for one single person to represent the European garage rock scene, I doubt we could do better than The Sick Rose's Luca Re. Well, Billy Childish would also be a strong nomination if one still counts the UK as Europe. This band from Turin, Italy formed in late 1983 and was one of the first bands of its kind in Continental Europe. They started playing pure (if somewhat punked-up) 60's-style garage rock, but every new album took them further from their roots. Renaissance, which is the band's 4th LP as well as the last of their first period, sees them add punk, glam and hard rock elements. Radio Birdman, The Dictators and New York Dolls replace The Seeds, Chocolate Watch Band and 13th Floor Elevators as their most obvious influences. The supersonic guitars opening the album ("Cheating") immediately make the band's intentions known: forget the swirling Farfisas of their debut, they're going for a supercharged hi-energy rock'n'roll sound, with Luca Re being the sole connection (both physically and stylistically) with the original band. The highlights are mostly the faster numbers, including "The American Dream", "Jaildoor" and "Hunting For A New Love", all augmented with wild Jerry Lee Lewis-style piano. But there are also some nice slower songs, including psychedelic ballads "Abbie's Dolls" and "Now She Comes In Colour", as well as "My Kind" which nurses a stoner-style heavy groove for 7,5 minutes. "See The Glow" adds some typical metallic riffing, and the album proper closes with the acoustic "Restless Mind". The CD edition adds 3 cool bonus tracks: covers of Kim Fowley's "Big City" and The Standells' Stones-y "Barracuda", and another metallic original called "Deathwish". Renaissance seems to be the band's least loved album, which is selling it a bit short. IMO it is just as good as the two albums that preceded it (though maybe not as good as their historic debut Faces), it's just that it seems fans weren't ready to follow their latest change in direction. After that, Sick Rose disbanded with Re forming a band with a pure 60's sound called 99th Floor (we'll review their 2 albums in the future) before reviving The Sick Rose for the 21st Century. They're still pretty good for a bunch of older dudes, check them out playing "Cheating" on the clip below from a recent club gig.

**** for Cheating, Now She Comes In Colour, The American Dream, Hunting For A New Love, Barracuda

*** for Alive And Well, My Kind, Abbie's Dolls, Jaildoor, See The Glow, Big City, Deathwish

** for Restless Mind