I'm having to revise my view of this band again having listened to their Revival album more closely, but quite simply more often. I think I perhaps listen to too much disparate music which prevents that process of living with a single album for a while and beginning to appreciate its nuances, and, more crucially, anticipate whilst listening because familiarity breeds that kind of important musical expectancy and appreciation.
In my initial reviewing I was adamant that The Answer do what they do brilliantly, but was less enthusiastic about the quality of songwriting. Yet now I'm getting keenly into memorable opener Waste Your Tears, happily anticipate the blues-slide, harp and stompstart of Trouble, fully enjoy the balladic teasestart to rocker and subsequent anthemic Tornado, and positively relish radioromp [courtesy Planet Rock] of Vida [I Want You].
Et sacre bleu, this will be sacrilegious to any Zed Heads out there, but another reason for my reassessment of The Answer was in response to listening today to a bootleg recording of Led Zeppelin playing at Earls Court in 1975. Naturally, so much is stunning - salivatingly stunning - but I was also struck by the self-indulgence and excess of much protracted playing. It made me reflect on the tightness of The Answer's performances, on record and live, as well as - perhaps for the very first time - appreciate what Punk was reacting to: it wasn't just the progressive movement; it was the pomposity of rock.
Excellent! I think you should revisit the first 2 albums as well. 'Rise' is a bit patchy, but in my opinion the first 3 tracks and 'Preachin' could be their 4 best songs, and 'Everyday Demons' is strong from start to finish. They're yet to write a song that truly crosses over, a 'Walk This Way,' 'More Than A Feeling,' or 'All Right Now,' but if anyone's going to, it's these guys. Great band.
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