CD REVIEW: THE EMPTY HEARTS – The Empty Hearts

CD REVIEW: THE EMPTY HEARTS – The Empty Hearts
429 Records
1 August 2014
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
8/10

The first thing you’ll notice about the debutu album from The Empty Hearts is the sheer joie de vivre at the heart of the affair – guitars jangle with power-poppy pleasure and riff with garage rock glee: the players are obviously having a ball with these homages to old time rock n’ roll.

And what players they are: Elliot Easton of The Cars & Creedence Clearwater Revisited; Clem Burke of Blondie; The Romantic’s Wally Palmar and Andy Babuik of The Chesterfield Kings, not to mention guest Ian MacLagan of The Faces contributing swirling Hammond and Wurlitzer grooves like the old master he is make this a garage pop supergroup without compare.

There’s elements of each of the foursome’s day jobs throughout the songs: a blondie-like melody here; a Romantics riff there – as well as direct homages to the bands that influenced and continue to inspire them the most: The Who, The Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, The Yardbirds, The Faces.

Whether you’ll like it as much as we do will come down to one key question: do you dig rock n’ roll? Because this here is the real deal.

Category: CD Reviews