This Is Rock N' Roll

This Is Rock N' Roll

An album title like <I>This Is Rock 'N' Roll</I> doesn't exactly promise grand artistic ambition and high concept. Still, give the London Quireboys credit: the title emphatically delivers on its promise, however modest it may be. These Quireboys actually date back to the mid-1980s and coulda been a contender for the blues-and-boogie-rock crown that was eventually grabbed by the Black Crowes. Singer Spike Gray reconvened the band at various points and in various incarnations throughout the 1990s, but <I>This Is Rock 'N' Roll</I> marks the band's first new studio full-length in nearly a decade. For fans of unadulterated, unhyphenated rock with catchy hooks and thick riffs, you could certainly do a lot worse than this bunch. Sure, they sound an awful lot like the Faces--Rod Stewart rasp and all--with a touch of Mott tossed in, which will no doubt earn them cries of "Derivative!" from snootier folks, but that is their loss. As Spike himself belts out, "Y'know it's a travesty when ya just can't sing along." Amen. <I>--Marc Greilsamer</I>