{"id":39168,"date":"2014-04-08T06:33:58","date_gmt":"2014-04-08T11:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=39168"},"modified":"2014-04-09T08:37:38","modified_gmt":"2014-04-09T13:37:38","slug":"mother-road-drive-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/mother-road-drive-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Mother Road | Drive<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska<\/span>
\n– Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"MotherThe \u201colder\u201d generation of hard rock fans do it out of nostalgia, the \u201cyounger\u201d out of longing for what they\u2019ve never had a chance to experience themselves. And yet, you can hear almost everyone complaining there\u2019s no time machine to be used whenever one fancies to. But with their first full length release Drive<\/em>, Mother Road prove it\u2019s possible to travel in time; all it takes is to push \u201cplay\u201d button to be transferred back to the glorious 1970s decade, with all its musical richness and diversity. And as for this time travel, the tour guides are the German guitarist Chris Lyne (Soul Doctor), the American Texas-based singer Keith Slack (Steelhouse Lane, Michael Schenker Group, Mudpie), with their rhythm section comprised of drummer Zacky Tsoukas and bassist Frank Binke. And \u2013 last, but not least \u2013 the mighty Alessandro Del Vecchio comes in to supply the group with some massive Hammond and piano sound, making the line-up complete and ready for a journey forty years back.<\/p>\n

The opener is \u201cThe Sun Will Shine Again,\u201d and although the song starts off as if Mother Road were to take you on a trip to Southern U.S., don\u2019t be misled by the country-ish, mellow intro. Soon it evolves into a \u201870s hard rock track much in vein of the early Whitesnake (the singer Keith Slack could be almost mistaken for the young Coverdale in this). It\u2019s enriched with a piece of Lyne\u2019s classic blues-infused shredding as for the guitar solo, but \u201cclassic\u201d in this case is certainly not a synonym to \u201cdated\u201d. <\/p>\n

The second track \u201cFeather In Your Hat\u201d sounds Purple-ish and bluesy, with vocals similar to Paul Rodgers\u2019 singing style \u2013 and if it hadn\u2019t been for the lack of background crackles so characteristic to the worn-out vinyl, one would have ended up thinking it\u2019s an authentic 1970\u2019s track. \u201cDrive Me Crazy\u201d \u2013 a piece of blues-influenced heavy rock with groovy guitar riffs \u2013 brings to mind classic Deep Purple again, to be followed up by \u201cOut Of My Mind\u201d, an interesting dialogue between Lyne\u2019s guitar and Del Vecchio\u2019s majestic Hammond sound, yet another throwback to the Hammond-dominated \u201870s rock. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese Shoes\u201d could have sounded more \u201cauthentic\u201d only if played in a smoky bar, with its bluesy feeling and distinct Whitesnake influences. As for \u201cDangerous Highway\u201d, a road song is actually what one could expect from a band named after the legendary US Route 66 (alternatively called \u201cMother Road\u201d) and it only takes to hear a big organ intro soon followed by the crunchy guitar sound and the dynamic rhythm section to \u201cget one\u2019s motor running\u201d and \u201chead out on the highway\u2026\u201d as Steppenwolf once suggested. <\/p>\n

\u201cPoor Boy (Long Way Out)\u201d is the seventh song on the record, with a little bit of Zeppelin and a little bit of Free poured in, preceding \u201cDirty Little Secret\u201d enriched with Slack\u2019s emotional and sensual vocal performance and impressive guitar work. This certainly could have ended up on any of Whitesnake records (even lyric-wise it\u2019s something Coverdale could come up with). \u201cBlue Eyes\u201d takes a listener for a trip down the US South, as a distant echo of Skynyrd\u2019s \u201cFree Bird\u201d resonates in the song\u2019s intro \u2013 with a slight classic Uriah Heep flavor to it. There is also \u201cStill Rainin\u201d with a powerful chorus and \u201cOn My Way\u201d, an acoustic, mellow song, which halfway through develops unexpectedly into a full-blooded blues track and goes back to the form of the acoustic ballad again towards the very end, with changes of pace impressive enough to finish the album on a high note.<\/p>\n

If you miss thick blues-infused guitars and majestic Hammond sounds, and if you\u2019d do just anything to go back in time, Mother Road\u2019s Drive is a record for you. The names of musicians involved in the project speak for themselves, but while Slack, Lyne and Del Vecchio don\u2019t have to do much to prove their music credibility, this particular album could stand for a proof of how effective a combination of unique talents might be. \u201cUnique\u201d is a word that suits Drive<\/em> best. The album pays homage to what was best in the 1970s bluesy hard rock and to all the formative musical phenomena of the unforgettable and influential decade, but also combines all these blues, hard rock and progressive influences into an interesting, lively piece of work \u2013 not \u201cdated\u201d or \u201cdull\u201d by any means. If you love blues rock, if you\u2019re into Free, Bad Company, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin or Whitesnake, if 1970s is a decade you either remember or you wish you did, Drive might become your personal highlight of 2014 so far. But even if what you look for is more of the outstanding musicianship than a nostalgia-driven time travel \u2013 Mother Road\u2019s first album is still worth checking out.<\/p>\n

Genre: Hard Rock, Blues Rock<\/p>\n

Band:
\nKeith Slack \u2013 vocals
\nChris Lyne \u2013 guitars
\nZacky Tsoukas \u2013 drums
\nFrank Binke \u2013 bass
\nAlessandro DelVecchio \u2013 Hammond & piano<\/p>\n

Track List:
\n1.\tThe Sun Will Shine Again
\n2.\tFeather In Your Hat
\n3.\tDrive Me Crazy
\n4.\tOut Of My Mind
\n5.\tThese Shoes
\n6.\tDangerous Highway
\n7.\tPoor Boy (Long Way Out)
\n8.\tDirty Little Secret
\n9.\tBlue Eyes
\n10.\tStill Rainin
\n11.\tOn My Way<\/p>\n

Label: Road Songs, AOR Heaven<\/p>\n

Website: www.facebook.com\/themotherroad<\/a> – www.motherroad-band.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 10\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska – Columnist — The \u201colder\u201d generation of hard rock fans do it out of nostalgia, the \u201cyounger\u201d out of longing for what they\u2019ve never had a chance to experience themselves. And yet, […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":39183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[9075,8734,2317,9073,1103,9072,9074],"class_list":{"0":"post-39168","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-aor-heaven","9":"tag-blues-rock","10":"tag-cd-review","11":"tag-drive","12":"tag-hard-rock","13":"tag-mother-road","14":"tag-road-songs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}