Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Often in life anarchy presents itself as well meaning, it is only when you look at it objectively and close up that what you first perceived as rebellion and possible revolution, is merely playful change, a flexing of muscles which have no discernible interest in revolt, it just wants to be noticed; it is the age of the petulant and the grumpy asking for attention and thus the cycle continues.
Mutiny in art is possible, it needn’t be full scale revolution, it need only be sincere and not pandering to the gallery which bays for blood and glory to part of the upheaval, it does not even need to be noticed, not straight away, for the finest acts of grievance and commotion are caused by those who wish to come from out of the shadows having already made their plans of musical mayhem. Mutiny in the eye of the beholder does exist and in Stone of a Bitch, the heavy hand of drama and bewitching introduction is very much in evidence.
The eponymously titled album is one that stirs the commotion first and then watches patiently as the rhythm ticks away, the sense of perception and uncertainty in life manifests itself in the physical and demanding, at ease with the streak of reform it seeks, the music is nonetheless something of a beautiful firestorm waiting to happen and one that requests its listeners to behold as a the start of the classic revolt.
Very much nestled in the Rock genre, Stone of a Bitch is powerful and transformative, it does not hide who it is, it does not shy or melt at the first sign of a possible clumsy cord, it simply rages but with eloquence in its voice and the subtle riot at its fists.
In tracks such as the steamy opener That’s A War, Caribbean Dive, Wolves and We Before The People, the tone is set, it is nurtured and then let loose to create the consequence of upheaval and the soaring vocals of conversation. “Jaw jaw is better than war war”, as Churchill once said, yet he never had the chance to see the Stone of a Bitch become a revolutionary possibility.
A hard hitting but subtly cool album, Stone of a Bitch is the urge to take evolution to a different level.
Ian D. Hall