The Pretty Reckless – Death By Rock And Roll: Album Review

By Mike Ainscoe on 22nd February 2021 • ( Leave a comment )

A dose of life affirming Rock And Roll from The Pretty Reckless

Release date: 12th February 2021

Format: vinyl / DL / CD / cassette

Rock and Roll might not save the world but it can make our existence worthwhile. Emerging from some dark times, it provides the shot that Taylor Momsen needed. Cathartic, therapeutic, outpouring whatever you want to call it, there’s a whole lotta personal depth invested in these songs. You don’t need to have an intimate knowledge of The Pretty Reckless to understand that something’s going down here.

An album that tracks and courts the destructive nature and power of Rock and Roll. A tribute to those who struggle to make their way through its murky darkness or to deal with the high profile, under the microscope, celebrity status. The title track is the proverbial cobweb blower “I wanna go where the shotgun blasts” Momsen wails with a passion and fury.

Sleazy and dirty and carried on a wave of littered with sizzling solos, delivered from the neck of an axe touted by a legs astride, shades wearing gunslinger. The violence on And So It Went is almost shocking while the self-analysis and reflection espoused on the cinematic 25 that makes a play for the latest Bond theme, reminds us that we’re in a dangerous place – staring down the barrel of a gun indeed. The latter is an unanticipated album highpoint

My Bones is positively tribal before kicking headlong into a galloping groove and as Broomsticks offers a little carousel of a vignette. An intermission where you can go grab your ice creams and quench your thirst. The brief respite gives way to a tale from days of old where the men are men and women were sold. Brooding and brutal. “Life is demanding, starting in the womb” is the cry in Turning Gold yet buoyed by the admission of knowing somehow things will be alright. The triumphant chorus is brave and full of defiance and Rock And Roll Heaven is a tribute to how those songs and those musicians can play their part in defining your life. The element of gaining strength from their message. With Harley Darling, it ensures the curtain comes down and leaves us swathed in a comforting cloak of gentle country rock.

You can also throw in Tom Morello and the schoolkids chanting along on And So It Went – yes, I’m old enough to remember “we don’t need no educa-shun” – for good measure. There’s nothing like getting a group of choral kids in to vent their anger and add to the venom. It’s a shrewd move. But one that emphasises a strength that will ultimately carry us through. We are built to survive. There will be no death by rock and roll.

Here’s And So It Went: