Graham Clark
Music Features Writer
4:35 AM 21st October 2020
arts
The Struts - Strange Days (Polydor)
British rock outfit The Struts might just break through to the mainstream with album number three.
The band have toured America until it hurts. Initially ignored in their home country they came under the wing of American management with the result that many doors were opened for them.
The Lockdown meant that the band were forced off the road so they decamped to the recording studio for ten days and the result is this cracking album.
It is a lot looser than the first two albums, more bluesy in parts, but the glam rock influences are still there. Take for example
All Dressed Up (With Nowhere To Go) which starts off with a guitar riff The Rolling Stones would be proud to play, add in a bit of T Rex and Slade then you will know what I mean.
Robbie Williams crops up on the album title track,
Strange Days - a ballad that crosses the band into a new audience. Robbie Williams with The Struts might have been unthinkable a few years back but now the sky is the limit for the Derby outfit.
The Kiss track
Do You Love Me suits the band well with its big chorus.
Another big surprise is when Joe Elliott and Phil Colleen from Sheffield’s Def Leppard crop up on
I Hate How Much I Want You, the track has a swagger, a bit of Queen with Killer Queen is in there too.
Tom Morello from Rage Against The Machine turns up on
Wild Child on a song that sounds unlike anything The Struts have done previously, more guitar oriented than you might expect.
As the album progresses the blues comes through even more on
Cool and again on
Burn It Down, gone are the big choruses with the glam rock influences being left behind.
The track
Another Hit of Showmanship has already been leaked before the release of the album. It features Albert Hammond Jr from The Strokes. The track builds into a euphoric monster - I can’t wait to see them play the song live.
We end with
Am I Talking To The Champagne (or talking to you) - a ballad which finishes where the opening track left off. It even comes complete with a saxophone!
The album is probably the most honest album the band have recorded in that there was no pressure with this one - they were not constantly touring and they have had the luxury of time to write the album too.
Not sounding as contrived as the first two albums, this one will be their biggest album to date.
I rate the album 4 out of 5