Bodinrocker – Eye To Eye
A Glam Piledriver of a Modern Rock Album.
A lot; and possibly too much of the music we listen to at RMHQ is ‘worthy’, ‘deep’, ‘thoughtful’, ‘interesting’, ‘insightful’ even; with not nearly enough being deemed ‘fun’……not ‘Funny’ fun; but music you can listen to that makes you nod your head and tap your feet and even dance to, without worrying whether you are cool enough to be in the same room as the disc.
EYE TO EYE is the second album we have heard by Swede Anders Bodin and his band; and it certainly ticks all the boxes we have for that ‘fun’ category we so crave every so often.
From the crashing Olde School Status Quoian chords that open the album with the heads down, no nonsense boogie of Vacation we both knew we were in for a glorious Rock and Roll Roller Coaster Ride; and Bodin even gives us a song of that title later on and it too fits the bill perfectly well; being exactly what it says on the tin.
There are even a couple of songs here that lurch towards the heavier end of the 70’s Glam scene with Lazy Day and album closer Life Ain’t Fair sounding like they could have been T Rex or Sweet album tracks, if you will; and that is said with a fluttering heart by someone who lived through and embraced that scene as a giddy teenager.
While Status Quo may have faded rather ungracefully into old age becoming a tired shadow of their former selves; Bodinrocker have managed to embrace the melodic powerhouse that they achieved circa Piledriver and Rockin’ All Over The World; especially on That Old Twelve-Bar Blues and Got No Time, which are both perfect for playing real damn loud in the car on the motorway.
As with all of the bands Bodinrocker have drawn their influences from; there is an obligatory and in this case rather good acoustic song included; with Lazy Day being a recent contender for ‘Favourite Song’ status.
As if to demonstrate he isn’t a ‘covers act’ (which he most certainly isn’t btw) Bodin casually slips in a history lesson under the guise of a neat soft-rocker; with New Sweden about a colony of Swedes who settled in North America a couple of centuries ago; and whom our man from Jamtland sounds incredibly proud.
The actual winner of the RMHQ ‘Favourite Song’ title goes to Brown Bear; another almost perfect ‘heads down and boogie’ rocker; but the twist here is the song draws on Anders’ family mythology and tells the tale of his Great, Great Grandfather stumbling across a giant Brown Bear in the local woods and after coming EYE TO EYE with it, fighting the beast and eventually killing it with his bare hands……well, I believe it even if you don’t; plus…..you can dance to it too; if you know how to.
‘Timing’ is everything in music; and EYE TO EYE came along just at the perfect time for me to appreciate Bodin’s distinctive singing style alongside his top quality songwriting which somehow manages to make music fun again.
Check them out.
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