Electric Man
Good Luck
Secret
Play The Fool
Good Things
Open My Eyes
Rich And The Poor
Belle Starr
Where I've Been
Destination On Course
After turning heads with their major label breakthrough Pressure & Time in 2011, Rival Sons garnered a reputation as a thrilling rock‘n’roll outfit with a fearsome live reputation. Not for them months spent in the studio poring over elaborately slick production: each release had been recorded in intensely tight time.
With their fourth album Great Western Valkyrie, the band – including recently appointed bassist Dave Beste – further expanded their sound with some of their most assured material yet. Opening track Electric Man was a boisterous slice of blues-rock, primarily driven by fuzz-drenched guitar and Jay Buchanan’s strident vocals. Newly prevalent keyboards lent a distinctly 60s flavour to the record, Good Luck recalling The Animals in their prime, while Good Things could almost have been a distant relative of California Dreamin’.
With a range of influences evident across the album’s 10 tracks, first single Open My Eyes was perhaps the centrepiece. Boasting a melody that sounded simultaneously fresh and like it had been in the pantheon forever, it dripped with soul. Meanwhile, there was something of a cinematic sweep across later tracks, The Rich And The Poor and Belle Starr nodding toward Ennio Morricone and evoking the sprawling landscapes of the Old West. A band on top of their game.
Every week, Album of the Week Club listens to and discusses the album in question, votes on how good it is, and publishes our findings, with the aim of giving people reliable reviews and the wider rock community the chance to contribute.
Other albums released in June 2014
- Die Antwoord - Donker Mag
- Nazareth - Rock 'n' Roll Telephone
- Parquet Courts - Sunbathing Animal
- Arch Enemy - War Eternal
- The Amity Affliction - Let the Ocean Take Me
- Tesla - Simplicity
- Jack White - Lazaretto
- Umphrey's McGee - Similar Skin
- Linkin Park - The Hunting Party
- Radio Moscow - Magical Dirt
- Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun
- Nothing More - Nothing More
- Phish - Fuego
- Slaves - Through Art We Are All Equals
- 5 Seconds of Summer - 5 Seconds of Summer
- Brian Eno and Karl Hyde - High Life
What they said...
"Even the most sprawling, psych-oriented tracks have excellent riffs, while most of the hard rockers and boogies contain hooks and multiple textures. Force is never sacrificed. Opening single Electric Man is unabashed in its Led Zeppelin IV proclivities, but Good Things evokes the Zombies of Odessey and Oracle with harder-edged guitars and fatter drums. Secret, led by Dave Beste's bass throb and Scott Holiday's thundering guitar vamp, makes room for guest keyboardist Ikey Owens (Mars Volta) on organ." (AllMusic)
"Though Open My Eyes carries a slower tempo than Pressure and Time, Jay Buchanan’s vocals deliver an unequivocal force that gleans an extra oomph from Scott Holiday’s bold guitar licks. While Beste’s sly undertones add emphasis to the varying tempos throughout the album, Michael Miley’s drumming is superb as usual." (Blues Rock Review)
"There’s no hiding the fact that Rival Sons channel a game plan that has been done before, but the quality of their output, and the reverence with which they honour the sounds that they throw liberally into their melting pot, makes their harvest relevant and hugely impressive. The grooves are as gutsy as the Zeppelins, Stones et al., and the pounding riffs are consistently the nucleus of the huge hooks that typified the era that they are audaciously tapped from." (No Ripcord)
What you said...
Brian Carr: Man, as a fan of rock music, you just have to love the artists that prove the art form is not in its grave. That said, although Rival Sons was in my consciousness, there were other recent artists I tended to gravitate toward more often. I liked what I heard from Rival Sons, but didn’t listen with much regularity. And what I did hear didn’t go back as far as Great Western Valkyrie. I was ready to post something to the effect of “the sound is rounding into form, but the songwriting wasn’t quite there as it would be in later releases." But something happened that hasn’t in far too long for me in our Club: I listened repeatedly. And the album really grew on me. And I think I need to get Rival Sons on my front burner. The band is excellent, their sound is fantastic and thanks much for the selection this week.
Adam McCann: Solid album of blues rock with a ton of soul. Wouldn't say it was a classic personally, but it is a bloody good album which captures the early 70s zeitgeist of this sound and pushes it through the modern lens.
Chris Downie: A fine contemporary band, who are unashamedly classic rock in their outlook and delivery. While they don't attempt to reinvent the wheel, they display all the attributes that, had they existed in the genre's heyday, would have seen them garner huge critical and commercial acclaim.
It's all too easy to dismiss bands like this as retro, or to proclaim that classic rock ended with Nirvana and early Pearl Jam, but that is to dismiss a band based on sentiments and not musical merit. I would have no hesitation in recommending them to those in the latter category. 7/10.
Gary Claydon: Retro might be a dirty word as far as Californian rockers Rival Sons are concerned but it undoubtedly fits them to a tee. The influences are easy enough to pick, with The Doors and, especially, Led Zeppelin to the fore, but it's all done with more than enough swagger and style to plant it squarely in the 21st century.
Great Western Valkyrie displays the thoughtful and intelligent (if sometimes a little too earnest) lyrics typical of Jay Buchanan. Rival Sons add a deal more soul and R&B to their bluesy hard rock than on previous albums, thanks, in part, to the more prominent keyboards (courtesy of the late Ikey Owens, who also worked with another recent CRAOTW pick, The Mars Volta).
If Buchanan channels Plant and Morrison he never descends into mimicry and can mix the powerhouse with the more subtle. There's also a nice Burdon-esque quality on the groovy Good Luck and passages reminiscent of Jeff Buckley, especially at the start of Destination On Course, which outros with a Whole Lotta Love style wig-out. Elsewhere, the excellent single Open My Eyes has a drum sound that is pure Bonzo.
Buchanan and Scott Holliday are the undoubted star turns here. The axeman isn't backwards at coming forward and plays with a pleasing scope and energy without slipping into six-string wankery. The rhythm section of Michael Miley and new boy (at the time) Dave Beste are top-notch.
So, is Great Western Valkyrie Rival Sons' best album? Possibly, although I have a very slight preference for second album Pressure & Time. Valkyrie has a slicker feel to it than their earlier efforts but without losing their edge. It also feels like a band intent on broadening their horizons.
It's 13 years since my first encounter with Rival Sons, at The Cockpit, a small venue under the arches near Leeds railway station, and in that time they have evolved into one of this century's very best rock'n'roll bands (and really are a must-see, live). Thing is, I have the nagging feeling that Rival Sons have yet to produce their real masterpiece. In the meantime, Great Western Valkyrie will do nicely.
Gary Furtrapper: This is their monster. Eric Burden meets The Cult and the bourbon flows like lava. Sweet, sugary Jesus. What a great album.
Gino Sigismondi: Rival Sons are the band I want to shove down the throats of anyone who claims Greta Van Fleet are today's best hard rock band! This is a prime example of how you take the best elements of what came before (i.e. Zeppelin), throw all the pieces in a blender and spit them back out as something new and exciting - rather than rote imitation.
Though I love all their albums, Great Western Valkyrie is where Rival Sons first came to my attention, and I don't think they've surpassed it. The secret ingredient is Dave Cobb's mammoth production, with all the warmth of analogue with a huge, modern edge. He may the only engineer on the planet to have crafted a drum sound that rivals what Bonham and Page did, so much so that when California Breed recorded their lone (and tragically overlooked) album with Cobb, Jason Bonham requested they record on the Sons' kit, in the same studio, with everything setup to get that "sound."
Rather than leaning into Plant's squealy side, Jay Buchanan's vocals have a full-bodied soulfulness, and the gnarly, hyper-compressed guitar tones recall the Dead Weather. If the world was a fair place, everyone's Greta Van Fleet records would spontaneously turn into Great Western Valkyrie!
Evan Sanders: This is an enjoyable album and a band that is definitely channelling the classic rock sound. At various points I picked up on influences from Led Zeppelin, Pearl Jam, and Jack White. Open My Eyes has a rhythm that almost sounds like an outtake of Led Zep's Kashmir. The first 7 songs are all strong, and then it drops off with slower numbers. I had the benefit of listening to the Tour Edition, with four extra tracks at the end that have a more unplugged feel. I would definitely play Rival Sons for anybody who wants to insist that classic rock pretty much ended after Nirvana and early Pearl Jam. 7/10.
Mike Canoe: Rival Sons are a good example of classic rock as an active genre and not just a band or album of a certain vintage. I actually saw them live when they opened for Black Sabbath on Birmingham's finest's farewell tour but I have to admit they didn't really register because, well, Black Sabbath.
Great Western Valkyrie is a solid album. It's easy to play 'spot the influence' with a band like Rival Sons but that's not really the point. The point is that in a fractured musical landscape where subgenres have seemingly infinite subgenres and you can't tell who plays what kind of music without a Wikipedia page, it's cool that Great Western Valkyrie is just loud 'needles in the red' rock'n'roll.
Jay Buchanan is a masterful howler and the band backs him up one hundred per cent. Heavy rockers dominate the first half of the album with Electric Man, Good Luck, Secrets, and Play the Fool all sticking in the brain. Things slow down with the slinky, inky Good Times. After that, my attention starts to drift a bit until the choral voices kick in on closing Zepic, Destination On Course, then the noise freakout keeps me rapt 'til the end of the track.
While Great Western Valkyrie strikes me as more good than great, I'm glad bands like Rival Sons are making brand-new classic rock.
Philip Qvist: The joys of living on the tip of Africa, where the main radio stations down here have basically stopped playing rock songs since the 2000s started. Yes, I have heard of Rival Sons but I doubt I have listened to more than a couple of songs from the band, so Great Western Valkyrie is new to me, so new that I didn't even know about it until today.
So with that in mind, what do I think of it and the band? Well they rock, and so does this record - and if other comments on this thread is anything to go by then it isn't even their best. So yes, I'm impressed.
It's not the greatest rock album of all time but I liked it a lot. Time to explore more of their music. A 7.5 from me this week.
Karl Gibson: Great band. A retro feel with a modern edge. This is probably my favourite of theirs although Pressure And Time and Feral Roots are strong contenders. One of the best vocalists around and a good mix of styles. Good Things is brilliant.
Steve Ballinger: Absolutely adore this band, the deluxe version of this album plays better, for some reason the extra tracks give it a bit more. But the preceding album Head Down is a modern classic.
John Davidson: I didn’t take to Rival Sons or Great Western Valkyrie when they first came to my attention in the pages of Classic Rock magazine some ten years ago, but something about them made me go back and give them another chance, and I’m very glad I did.
Jay Buchanan brings the rock'n'roll poet vibe to the band, channelling Jim Morrison more than Robert Plant, while Scott Holiday brings the classic rock riffs, the solos and a ton of style. When they are such obvious front men, it's often easy to overlook the bass and drums, but their contributions to the music are essential. The overall effect is heavy, bluesy and soulful.
Great Western Valkyrie may not be perfect but when it hits the mark, as it does on Good Luck, Good Things, Rich And The Poor, Open My Eyes and Where I’ve Been they are superb.
Even on Play The Fool which borrows a little too heavily from Led Zeppelin’s Misty Mountain Hop, they do it with enough zip and energy that it feels more like a homage than stealing.
If I have a criticism, it’s that they may seem to take themselves a little too seriously – certainly, no one is going to accuse them of being a brainless party band. The rest of their albums are a little patchier, but they all have something to offer if you are in the mood for creating a playlist. However, to really experience Rival Sons at their best they need to be seen live.
Not perfect but damned close 9/10.
Greg Schwepe: Somehow, I have found very few “new” bands since the year 2000 that have really caught my interest. And hard to believe that I’m using “new” with almost 24 years having elapsed. At some point, I’m pretty sure I had done a quick drive-by of some of Rival Sons music. Had probably seen some article or album review where I read “they have an old school vibe” or “fans of [insert name of 70s classic rock band] might enjoy them…”
To be fair, any of these “new” bands do have their own distinct sound, but there’s still a little Zeppelin, Sabbath, or Purple in there to pull you in. Great Western Valkyrie does exude bits and pieces of those bands, but is able to stand on its own feet.
I generally like anything loud and fast, filled with lots of guitar and drums. Hey, that’s rock and roll for you! But in the case of this album, I had the previously encountered “push/pull” (or is it “pull/push”?) syndrome where one song keeps me listening, only to have the next song make me wonder if I want to finish out the album.
Great Western Valkyrie just didn’t click with me. Nothing outrageously annoying that kept me from listening to the entire album, but nothing that made me want to listen again and check out more of their catalogue.
As a comparison, I am a huge fan of “Black Country Communion” (another “new” band since 2000) and eagerly awaited their releases. Is this because one of their members (Glenn Hughes) was actually in one of those classic 70s bands that influence these “new” ones? Not sure!
7 out of 10 for me on this one. Enough to keep me listening through the entire album, but just not any further past that.
Final score: 7.97 (172 votes cast, total score 574)
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