The Jokers ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll is Alive’

jokersartwork1‘Rock ‘n’ Roll is Alive’ is the second studio album by The Jokers, this follows on from the impressive debut ‘The Great Rock ‘N’ Roll Show’ released back in 2009, so has it been worth the wait ? ? In a nutshell, just about, although this is not as good as the debut album it does have it moments.These moments come after the first two tracks however, as these are well below par and do the band no favours.
These two are just throwaway cheap demo songs, no substance, very little style and very nearly had me reaching for the off button. This style of rock n roll has been done so much better, but if you like bands like JettBlack, or Heaven’s Basement you might actually like these opening tracks, to me they seem weak, and I know The Jokers can do much better.However once you get past these two, it is like you have turned a corner, the songwriting is better, the riffs are better, the solos are so much better, everything is better. ‘Radio’ is the third track in and is a slow ballad, Wayne Parry flexing his powerful soulful vocal chords with ease make this a stand out track for me, back on track for the Jokers..
‘Blood of ox’ is a short instrumental where Paul Hurst really shows how to play guitar before ‘Night Driver’ picks up the baton with a AC/DC groove to it.
‘Let it rock’ follows this vein, picking up the tempo a bit before ‘Find my way home’ heads into blues territory, very impressive track this.
‘Skyline’ acts as an intro to N.Y.C another great rock track dating back to the old school sound of classic rock.
‘Bring Your Love Back To Me’ is an excellent acoustic driven bluesy ballad, the album closes with a bang with ‘Dr. Rock Head’, an all and out rocker.
All in all this is a very good second album from The Jokers, but try as i might, I still do not like the first two tracks, but that is just me, as I mentioned before, these tracks sound like many other bands out there, they are that generic, and I feel let the album down.

Tracklisting
‘Silver City’
‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Is Alive’
‘Radio’
‘Blood Of Ox’
‘Night Driver’
‘Let It Rock’
‘Find my way home’
‘N.Y.C.’
‘Bring Your Love Back To Me’
‘Dr. Rock Head’

The Jokers lineup:
Wane Parry, Vocals
Paul Hurst, Guitar
Simon Hurst, Bass
Chris Poole, Drums

http://www.thejokers.com/

About David Farrell

General Manager and 'THE' competition guy at planetmosh.com. Manager of The Goddanm Electric www.thegde.co.uk, Tour manager for Serpentine, and ex-general Dogsbody at Hammerfest.co.uk. Media partner to numerous bands. Also takes photos, writes reviews and likes classic rock, with a touch of thrash to get the blood flowing.