Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that the core members of this band were once in the first officially-sanctioned Kiss Tribute band, Cold Gin, Generation Landslide (keeping the glam theme going by naming themselves after an Alice Cooper tune) often give off a whiff of the hottest band in the world. Nite Time Magic, the third rack on their new album, Ruling The Street Scene, has an especial shot of Kiss’ seventies output, and is none the worse for all that.
However this is a band that has many more strings to it’s bow than merely stoking the fires of nostalgia; and though it’s true to say that most of their finer moments do prompt memories of older, more august artists, it’s done in such a way as to leave an indelible smile on the face of the listener rather than a disgusted snarl of disappointment at any perceived ‘borrowings’.
Hence the band’s Thin Lizzy homage, Are You Out There, is a tear-jerking, foot-tapping success, whilst standout cuts, the progressive The City On The Edge of Forever and the Teslaesque Me In You, point to a band that has been entirely successful in synthesizing all it’s influences and inspirations into something quite fresh sounding indeed.
As we get further away from the eighties it seems the key driving factor behind bands of a certain age – and Generation Landslide are very definitely in that bracket – is to keep the memories of that decade firmly in the front of audience memories come what may; that’s not always easy to do, especially if you don’t possess the same talent as those you’re attempting to mimic, but GL’s lead singer and main songwriter Anthony White (he was Paul Stanley in Cold Gin, natch) possesses a keen grasp of what makes a song great – whatever decade it was written in – and uses that skill time and again over the course of RTSS. This is one heck of a listenable album.
Other eighties-referencing albums are available, for sure, but few of them are referencing that decade with the sheer pizzaz and panache that Generation Landslide manage here. And for that reason this is a must-buy album if you love the glory of eighties hard rock.
Ruling The Street Scene is out now.
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