Ten years after their last album, The Wildhearts are back! On new album Renaissance Men (so called because they have came back) the band promises to rock you like a boomerang (a thing that comes back). And, like renaissance men, The Wildhearts are a sophisticated bunch so you get clever puns about comebacks and a wide range of lyrical concerns: online bullying, mental health, wankers, celebrity drug deaths, and coming back. It’s all extremely in-your-face but also a lot of fun too. Everything’s direct and punky so you don’t get the exciting, sprawling riff adventures of older material like Everlone and Rooting For The Bad Guy. But the songs themselves are eclectic and sharp. Dislocated veers from metal blitzkrieg to touchingly vulnerable, Let Em’ Go is a guaranteed drunken singalong and My Side Of The Bed mixes atonal noise with blissful power pop. And the heads-down pace of the album means the by-the-numbers moments like Little Flower and Emergency (Fentanyl Babylon) are short enough to forgive. Especially when mingling with belters like the powerful closer Pilo Erection (stop tittering and google it) and the wonderful, celebratory title track. Feels like a band that’s came back at the right time and for the right reasons and this is an album that’ll keep you coming back for more. Like a boomerang.
This is a guy I have heard of, but don’t have any albums he played on. Doesn’t sound at all like I expected.
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He does so much different stuff, it’s hard to know what to expect anymore!
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Impressed.
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Awesome! I hope you’re doing well!
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I’m good thanks! Hope all is well with you!
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Awesome. I listened to this recently, great stuff.
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How did I miss an HMO POST??
Well, here I am!
That is a pretty cool track and a video to go along with it. I may have to hunt around Itunes and see what they got!
In the video is that you at the merch table buying a shirt? haha
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Nah, I’m too important to go to gigs. I think you’d like some of this… not sure if you’d like all of it though… worth a try anyway!
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Ah, that’s right I forgot I was replying to the C.E.O of Rock N Roll! haha
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I like that idea of the motivation/timing being a selling point – and I rarely say no to a clever pun!
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I love Ginger unreservedly. I really need the yellow vinyl version of this, maybe I should start a crowdfunding page to help?
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He’s great but I can’t keep up. Wish he’d maintain a more Leppard/Boston esque workrate.
What perks would you offer?
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(looks around for inspiration) Signed pieces of toast, Marmite OR jam?
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Ewwww jam definitely.
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That’s the more expensive option.
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Is there pips?
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Ahh, you’ll be wanting the platinum package option – comes with pips and a totally blank cassette labelled ‘Riff Origins’ (nobody ever listens to cassettes, surely?)
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Fo
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Maybe that should be a toast origins bag of flour.
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It would be more useful than a cassette.
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HMO, I like this. Will be searching more out.
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Nice! They can get a wee bit silly at times but this is a good album and ‘Land If The Free’ is superb! (Different singer on that one though). And if you like this, you should check out Helloween’s ‘Keeper Of The 7 Keys’ albums.
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You answered my next question. I will dig in. Is ‘Land Of The Free’ have another title? 1537 turned me onto the album with the barbed wire on the face. It got lost in the shuffle. It won’t happen again.
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Haha no forget everything I said! I’d just posted about Gamma Ray and assumed you were talking about them.. Durrr…
The Wildhearts! Yep, the barbed wire one is ‘Earth Vs The Wildhearts’ and that is absolutely the best place to start! But this is great and so is their s/t with the white cover.
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I would have been chasing that forever. Thanks. Been listening to Wildhearts all morning. Yeah, I like these guys. I think I’ll stay locked in for a while.
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I’ve listened to this a few times and really like it. Shocker!
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That is a shocker! There’s hope for you yet haha
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Obviously I’ll say it’s dugshite next time it crops up in conversation.
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Once the Canucks all start liking it, we can start slagging it off then.
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Haha. “I liked it before it got to Canadialand!”
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Those guys just ruin everything!
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Haha. In fairness, Greta Van Fleet were already dugshit.
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