Something akin to a celebrity sessioneers all-stars quintet, Boston-area band RJ & THE IMPERATIVES are seasoned rockers who – between them – have done the rounds with artists as well respected as Zachariah, Tom Sholz (Boston), Dave Wright & The County Fliers and Keeper over the past 30 years or so. Their erstwhile leader, singer/ songwriter/ guitarist RJ SHAPIRO and drummer John Broderick have also previously worked in harness with the popular ‘60s covers band Don’t Quit Your Day Job, so it’s probably true to say they’ve all leant a hand in re-inventing the rock wheel a few times along the way.
Satisfyingly, they bring their considerable experience to bear to great effect with their likeable second album ‘Hurricane Season’ too: a record full of well-executed hooks’n’tunes which delves into a bulging bag of blues, funk, Americana, New Wave and good old rock’n’roll swagger along the way and emerges dressed looking really rather fine and dandy too.
The tough, well-drilled and mildly phonky ‘Find Yourself Falling’ gives us some idea of the guys’ eminently admirable grasp of melodic suss. It’s a well-heeled bar-room rocker with big, fat Muscle Shoal-type horns, a soul-ish undertow and a great, Clarence Clemons-style sax solo. Indeed it’s immediately clear that RJ & co are real pros and when you can hear the important little things (like the way Broderick plays his energetic snare drum rolls) are already clicking into place, then you know you’re onto something good.
This impression is cemented as the album unfolds too. There are further examples of the Imperatives’ knack with pop hooks on tunes like the louche boogie of ‘She’s Back’ and the emotionally battle-scarred ‘I Should Forget About You’ with its’ natty guitar figure that shadows The Cars’ ‘Best Friend’s Girl’ , while ‘Martha’ demonstrates the lads are equally adept with both Police-style white-boy reggae canters and Santana-esque guitar squalls and the here-we-go-again scenario of ‘What Am I Gonna Do With You?’ finds those sultry horns again sneaking in through the back door and the easy-going blues-y backdrop recalling Robert Cray.
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All of which is pretty good, though funnily enough it’s sometimes when The Imperatives slow it down a little that the Imperatives really score. If you don’t believe me, then try both ‘The Closest of Friends’ and ‘Isn’t This What We Meant?’ on for size. The Costello-ish timbre in Shapiro’s voice is used to great effect during the course of the string-led aspiration of the former while the gentle, regretful ‘Isn’t This What We Meant?’ features some beautifully restrained playing from all concerned and even gets away with lobbing a bloody mandolin solo in for good measure. But such is the confidence that comes with experience, I guess.
Indeed, while ‘Hurricane Season’ may be viewed as too MOR to connect with hip young types, it’s nonetheless an excellent album with plenty of variety and enough catchy choruses to snare the discerning music head who cares little for demographics and whatever’s supposed to be flavour of the month right now. In fact, when all’s said and done, ‘Hurricane Season’ summons up a fair old rock’n’roll storm in its’ own right, so you might want to keep those waterproofs handy for the foreseeable.
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