CD REVIEW: VINTAGE TROUBLE – 1 Hopeful Rd.

Shane | 13 November 2015 | Reply

CD REVIEW: VINTAGE TROUBLE – 1 Hopeful Rd.
Blue Note/Universal Music
14 August, 2015
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
9 ½ /10

From their name on down everything about Vintage Trouble screams ‘vintage’.

They’re on the iconic Blue Note label. The cover design deliberately harkens back to the pre-rock n’ roll era. Their music is a melting pot of soul, early R&B, rock n’ roll, blues and gospel – they steadfastly refuse to be pigeonholed easily, and for their prime influences you have to go right back before hard rock was even a thing. The production here is wonderfully crisp and whilst sounding as hip as modern technology can afford, it has far more in common with the glory days of Muddy Waters, Percy Sledge, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin and their ilk. And let’s not overlook their dress sense: the word ‘dapper’ hardly does them justice. Vintage Trouble are bringing vintage cool back.

Singer Ty Taylor – a veteran of the Rock Star: INXS TV show, on which he sported a full Mohawk – induces chills with his soul-drenched vocals, whilst the rest of the band – a mixed batch, guitarist Nalle Colt hails from Sweden, bassist Rick Barrio Dill from Florida, drummer Richard Danielson from California and Taylor from New Jersey – are completely in tune with the late-‘50s/early ‘60s grooves they so obviously love.

And that is exactly why this should be – in a perfect world – the best selling album of the year: in every note Vintage Trouble play, as well as the spaces between them, you can feel their passion and connection on an emotional level with the song and the listener. Glorious.

https://www.facebook.com/vintagetrouble