Q: What Was the Most Overrated Rock Debut of 2005? (Rise - Answer)

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	Rise - Answer
Date:	22/01/08 (55 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun, upbeat and energetic rock.

Disadvantages: Uninspired and incredibly derivative seventies rock recorded in 2005.

I don't understand the hype and popularity surrounding this debut release from Northern Ireland blues-rock throwbacks the Answer, acclaimed by Classic Rock as the best new band of 2005 and praised by the old-skool bands they were sent to tour with. It's a decent enough album of hard rock with a significant blues influence, in some songs more than others, but really offers nothing that can't be found from a brief overview of seventies rock. Paul Mahon's laid-back blues riffs and solos are there, vocalist Cormac Neeson is powerful and capable of a fair wail but doesn't have any distinctive character of his own, and the only real sign that this was made after 1978 is the crystal clear production and mixing job, which really captures the full range of the studio performance.

This is hard rock in a distinctly American tradition, specifically the Southern United States, and bears no traces of the band's native Ireland, which I personally find a little disappointing, but is at least an ironic parallel to all the people living in America who still claim to be Irish. The pointlessly abbreviated song titles and lyrics all reference typical aspects of Southern livin', from sleazy Memphis to no-good preacher men, and it's easy to see why Def Leppard and others would enjoy these newcomers as a loyally nostalgic reference to the past. I'm just left a little confused how it could be one of the most acclaimed albums of that year.

The songs are all fairly typical, as you'd find on pretty much any blues-tinged rock album of the seventies. Most are medium speed affairs with cool, repetitive riffs and an energetic vocal performance, others are slower and softer, and others ever so slightly longer and more complex. Some such as 'Come Follow Me,' 'Into the Gutter' and 'Sometimes Your Love' are almost insultingly archaic for being so stuck in the past without the modern chorus and vocal styles found in the other songs, while the aforementioned homages 'Memphis Quarter' and 'Preachin'' are both tediously overlong, their lethargic blues riffs becoming tiresome before the six minutes are up. The latter is at least slightly experimental for including additional musical sources, but the mistake it makes is in utilising a group of gospel singers, hand clapping and a Hammond organ rather than instruments that don't sound terrible and daft, which would have worked slightly better.

The cheeky Hammond works its way into other points of the album, notably the otherwise impressive 'Be What You Want' that includes perhaps the best guitars of the album and manages to carry off a slower and more thoughtful pace with dignity this time, as do 'Never Too Late' and the final, entirely soft offering. I enjoy this album as a simple blues rock offering in the same vein as the superior Clutch and other modern blues rock bands, but I really didn't know what to expect when I first approached it. After reading the hype I was inevitably disappointed to find a series of adequate but uninspired songs that no one seems to notice are merely harking back to the seventies, even the people who were around in the seventies and playing music like this. But then, you know what they say about people who remember the seventies... or is that the sixties? I forget.

1. Under the Sky
2. Never Too Late
3. Come Follow Me
4. Be What You Want
5. Memphis Quarter
6. No Questions Asked
7. Into the Gutter
8. Sometimes Your Love
9. Leavin' Today
10. Preachin'
11. Always On My Mind

Summary: The Answer's first album (2005).