Yes it's finally here, the fourth album by The Witchdoktors who have long been a great live band that anyone who has regularly been to gigs in London should have come across at some point. I know I certainly have.
So, the album opens with No Pain No Gain: a song that I've certainly heard them play live. It sounds like it was recorded live in the studio with the band's typical Thames Delta amphetamine blues garage-punk delivery in full effect you know the album is going to be a riot from end to end.
High Society isn't an MC5 cover but covers similar territory, giving nods to the Ramones and New York Dolls as it rampages across the speakers like Dr Feelgood gone berserk. The guitars are full on and if you can sit still while listening to this you just haven't got an ounce of rock and roll in your body.
Jack Hammer makes me want to go full on Wilko Johnson around the room. It's a great blast of garage rock ready to pummel your brain and distort your mind as Big T and Zig C do what they do best and anchor every song with a great tune for Planet Andy to ram home the lyrics. It's just great and will probably still sound better than this live. Well it did the last time I saw them actually.
Mad Elaine is almost a great sister track to The Urban Voodoo Machine's Crazy Maria as both women seem to have similar levels of madness only Elaine here also has a monstrous riff to help you run away from her clutches - or into her arms depending on how brave you'rr feeling. Tom's White Shoes is yet another great song about being at the 12-Bar Club back in Denmark Street before it got destroyed by Crossrail and brings back memories of many nights seeing the Witchdoktors supporting all sorts of other bands there; often blowing them off the stage.
Voodoo Eye seems to be an update of Smokestack Lightning but amped up and with the sort of drive that will help you escape that Voodoo Eye as the slide guitar goes mad chasing you down. 7 Days & 7 Nights is the sort of work song that will be stuck in your head in no time at all and you'll be singing along to it days after you've heard it, yes it's that catchy.
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New Set Of Wheels is the sort of car song that you'd expect from a Garage rock band and, damn, it sounds great; a proper boast of a song. Bad Penny has a great organ bit that keeps coming in as the story of the Bad Penny unfolds like the good garage rock song. It is a bit slower than normal but they need to catch their breath every once in a while.
Tie Me Up is a full on 150 MPH speed demon of a booze and luv song as Andy needs to be tied in chains to stop him drinking the bar dry. Can anything hold them back at this place? Double Down shows that it's time for a surf instrumental in a Ventures style and mighty fine it is too. Walk The Talk is a live classic and sounds mighty fine here: all polished up with some cool harmonica and Seeds-style Bass and Drums. It chugs along at a fine pace.
The album closes with Hangin' On A Line, which sounds like a super amped-up Heartbreakers tune as he waits for a reply to some question or other which never quite comes and well, maybe after the guitar rave-up you'll get another plea for that answer. It's a great end to a brilliant album that I just want to play again and again and have just hit play for a third time in a row. I ain't bored yet.
Find out more at Bomber Music online
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