Although he hails from a town called Pointe Claire, Quebec (of South African parentage), SAM ROBERTS peddles a brand of tight, nervy, well-observed Anglo-American guitar pop that's unsurprisingly making inroads south of the Canadian border.
Roberts has something of a youthful reputation, too. He was making waves around Montreal at the tender age of 15 with his first band Northstar, and he recorded his acclaimed solo album "Brother Down" entirely on his own, save for the drums and percussion.
"We Were Born In A Flame" casts its' net a little wider, presenting a full band line up, but won't disappoint those of us who broadly subscribe to the tried'n'trusted, gritty power-pop formula. Roberts' band are tight and ballsy throughout, with guitarist Eric Fares' propensity for E-bow and occasional Television-style lead breaks (like on opener "Hard Road") definitely a plus point.
Most of the standouts come early on. "Don't Walk Away Eileen" is a tough, steadfast rocker, dispensing The Stones, The Ramones and The Knack in roughly equal proportions before hitting a chorus catchier than a ten-mile barbed-wire fence; "Where Have All The Good People Gone?" (sample lyric: "0h, the Milky Way has gone a little sour") is a monster-sized, semi-acoustic anthem of concern that slows down that nagging Bo Diddley beat and uses it to the band's advantage, while "Taj Mahal" is a classy singalong schtick framed by elegant piano rippling reminiscent of Nicky Hopkins.
|
By comparison, there's also things like "Every Part Of Me": brash, breezy pop with extra horn-section punch, irresistible melody quotient and nippy bass playing from Dave Nugent. Indeed, even when things get chessily obvious, like on the stomptastic "On The Run", the bitten-off, Kinks-y guitars and Corey Zadorozny's Moon-esque drum pillage keep things sharp regardless.
In this reviewer's mind, "We Were Born In A Flame" does peter out a tad towards the close - not least on "This Wreck Of A Life" where Roberts slips into some crowd-pleasing, but irritating French Canadian - but by this time he's pretty much talked you into his deal, so you're relatively willing to forgive.
I'm not making a case for Sam Roberts as a groundbreaking performer. In fact, his tough, gnarly harmony pop has been done countless times before. However, if you're still seduced by singer/ songwriters with an unerring bent for well-observed characterisations set to a tough, memorable beat then you'd do well to take a cleansing walk through the fire of "We Were Born In A Flame."
(www.samrobertsband.com)
|
