Young and Dangerous - Album Review (long)

For anyone interested in a glimmer of hope for the otherwise moribund status of rock music, read on:

Young and Dangerous is the second studio album by The Struts and was officially released on October 26. If you don’t know who The Struts are, they are a British foursome who have been on the scene for around 5 years. They have opened for the Rolling Stones, The Who, Motley Crue and for the Foo Fighters for a whole tour, and are regulars at the larger rock festivals. They are known for their frenetic and usually sold out live shows, relentless touring and serious work ethic. They have appeared on a number of late night shows as well as America’s Got Talent. Their music has been described as glam rock and their front man Luke Spiller has been described as the love child of Freddie Mercury and Mick Jagger. 

Their first album, Everybody Wants, a great debut album, was well received. It is worth the purchase and full of upbeat, catchy and singable tunes with obvious influences by Queen and other glam bands like Sweet. Despite all this they remain somewhat of an indie band and have not broken into nationwide radio air play.

Young and Dangerous was recorded at various times and in various places during short breaks from touring. A number of the songs have been out for months on iTunes and Spotify and many of the rest have been played in their live shows.  

This album continues in the glam rock mode but seems a little more mature. Body Talks, Primadonna Like Me and Bulletproof Baby are super catchy, guitar heavy pop tunes and fit in well with their sing-along, audience participation live shows. The song People is a little more serious in tone and content but is also catchy and hard to get out of your head. Somebody New is a sad-sweet pop ballad that is slower in pace. Ashes (Part 2) is the counterpart of Fire (Part 1) and is a heart string plucking power ballad which seems to be calculated to be an anthem for the band. It is no Bohemian Rhapsody, Free Bird or Stairway to Heaven but is easily superior to the power ballads of the 1980’s from the likes of Foreigner, Journey and R.E.O. Speedwagon. The rest of the songs are far from being filler and are catchy and often witty in their own right (like Tatler Magazine) but unlikely to be ‘single’ material.

I love The Struts first album and I’m thrilled that Young and Dangerous is a worthy progression and may very well be superior. The glam rock theme is maintained but there are more serious and thoughtful tunes that complement the lighter and more pop centered songs. This album also confirms that The Struts are not a gimmick band that, as one critic said, are not just giving a wink and a nod to glam rock. They are serious about the genre and are not writing and performing their music ‘ironically’. This is no Austin Powers spoofiness. This is the type of music they love and love to make and they are expanding on the glam pop of the 1970s. Comparisons with Queen are unavoidable and the band freely acknowledges the influence but there isn’t a sense that they are simply mimicking the legendary band.

As far as criticism, one could fault the Struts with recycling and re-using a lot of standard pop hooks. Song structure is fairly standard and predictable. But the hooks are well integrated into cohesive, fun, slightly hard, catchy songs that sound new and retro  at the same time.

It is hard for me to say how this album, or The Struts in general, will be received by audiophiles. It is guitar heavy and glam oriented but it is largely pop. I do not see this as contemplative music that one spends quality listening time to. It lends itself to listening in the car, at parties and clubs, etc. and almost compels you to sing along, tap your feet and clap your hands if not jump up and down.  I cannot comment on the sound quality of  Young and Dangerous since my CD has not arrived and I’ve been listening via iTunes. The Everybody Wants CD has compressed dynamic range and too much loudness as most new music does. I suspect this CD will be no different.

Anyway, if you have despaired over the current health of rock and roll, then this band and this album should give you some hope. Give them a listen, don’t try to take them too seriously because this type of music does not lend itself to over analysis. And by all means go to a live show. I saw them earlier this month and had an absolute blast. One of the best live shows I’ve ever seen.