‘77
Maximum Rock ‘n Roll
Listenable Records
2013
Barcelona based hard rockers ‘77 have released their third album aptly entitled “Maximum Rock ‘n Roll”. This piece of news is neither good nor bad in my opinion.
There really isn’t much to say about this album; if you like the 70s sounding hard rock ‘n’ roll you’ll like “Maximum Rock ‘n Roll”. That’s all. You’ll like it, but you probably won’t love it. The problem here is that while all the tracks in it are pretty decent and actually some of them are quite tight, none of them is amazing. Therefore, the listener’s attention may shift at any time during each and every one of the songs in this album. Thanks to their love for the 70s raw hard rock sound, ‘77 has been compared to AC/DC (during their Bon Scott days) many times throughout their career. In my opinion, they do sound like a much cleaner version of the great ozzies, without Angus Young’s great talent and song constructing skills.
Don’t get me wrong, all of the songs featured in “Maximum Rock ‘n Roll” are actually pretty fun, kinda rocking and, at the end of the day, quite enjoyable. What works against them is the clean crisp sound made possible by musician/producer Nicke “Royale” Andersson (The Hellacopters, Imperial State Electric). This takes away all the gritty feel of similar 70s releases and leaves the album a little “spineless”. Let’s face it, one of the major aspects that everyone likes in that era’s hard rock sound is the ballsy, dirty, bad-boy attitude you fell pouring through your speakers. “Maximum Rock ‘n Roll” is lacking that and therefore it sometimes falls flat. I mean “Down And Dirty” is nowhere near as dirty as the title suggests, “Highway Rebel” is no “Highway Star”, “Jazz It Up” does not jazz anything up, I don’t think anyone will ever scream for “Don’t You Scream”, “You Bore Me” might not bore, but it doesn’t excite either and as for “Take Me Or Leave Me”, I could take it or leave it.
After all that wordplay, let me leave you with one last one: “Maximum Rock ‘n Roll” offers some pretty decent rock ‘n’ roll moments, but there is nothing “maximum” about it.
There really isn’t much to say about this album; if you like the 70s sounding hard rock ‘n’ roll you’ll like “Maximum Rock ‘n Roll”. That’s all. You’ll like it, but you probably won’t love it. The problem here is that while all the tracks in it are pretty decent and actually some of them are quite tight, none of them is amazing. Therefore, the listener’s attention may shift at any time during each and every one of the songs in this album. Thanks to their love for the 70s raw hard rock sound, ‘77 has been compared to AC/DC (during their Bon Scott days) many times throughout their career. In my opinion, they do sound like a much cleaner version of the great ozzies, without Angus Young’s great talent and song constructing skills.
Don’t get me wrong, all of the songs featured in “Maximum Rock ‘n Roll” are actually pretty fun, kinda rocking and, at the end of the day, quite enjoyable. What works against them is the clean crisp sound made possible by musician/producer Nicke “Royale” Andersson (The Hellacopters, Imperial State Electric). This takes away all the gritty feel of similar 70s releases and leaves the album a little “spineless”. Let’s face it, one of the major aspects that everyone likes in that era’s hard rock sound is the ballsy, dirty, bad-boy attitude you fell pouring through your speakers. “Maximum Rock ‘n Roll” is lacking that and therefore it sometimes falls flat. I mean “Down And Dirty” is nowhere near as dirty as the title suggests, “Highway Rebel” is no “Highway Star”, “Jazz It Up” does not jazz anything up, I don’t think anyone will ever scream for “Don’t You Scream”, “You Bore Me” might not bore, but it doesn’t excite either and as for “Take Me Or Leave Me”, I could take it or leave it.
After all that wordplay, let me leave you with one last one: “Maximum Rock ‘n Roll” offers some pretty decent rock ‘n’ roll moments, but there is nothing “maximum” about it.