![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/hoodoo_gurus_chariot.jpg\")
Right out of the gate, The Hoodoo Gurus showcased a high energy, passionate and good-humored approach to rock\u2019n\u2019roll. When they debuted in 1984 with the thrilling Stoneage Romeos<\/i>, they were categorized as a kind of Down Under college rock band, kindred spirits of bands like the Smithereens and Replacements.<\/p>\n
Guitarist, lead singer and songwriter Dave Faulkner always has a musical vision that went beyond fist-pumping rock. Alongside hooky rockers like \u201cI Want You Back\u201d and garage-leaning numbers like \u201cDig it Up\u201d and \u201cI Was a Kamikaze Pilot,\u201d the Hoodoo Gurus offered more nuanced, supremely melodic rock ballads like \u201cMy Girl.\u201d And they often brought a Byrds-like jangle that suggested a musical kinship with L.A.\u2019s Paisley Underground.<\/p>\n
The \u201880s were a creatively fertile period for the band; 1984\u2019s Mars Needs Guitars<\/i> and \u201887\u2019s Blow Your Cool!<\/i> (the latter with cover art inspired by jazz hero Jackie McLean\u2019s Right Now!<\/i>) were equally excellent and tuneful. And the band\u2019s affinity for those L.A. sounds manifested itself with the involvement of some Bangles and members of Dream Syndicate. The first four Hoodoo Gurus albums all topped the college charts, and their fifth (1991\u2019s Kinky<\/i>) made it to #2.<\/p>\n
The 1990s saw a slight yet perceptible drop-off in the immediacy of the band\u2019s music, though the Hoodoo Gurus have never made a record that approached disappointment. But tastes changed (as they do) and suddenly \u2013 at least outside their native Australia, where they\u2019ve remained consistently popular \u2013 the band\u2019s style didn\u2019t catch fire the way it had. A hiatus that began in 1998 ended in 2003, though prior to their latest, the group had released but two albums in the new century. Purity of Essence<\/i><\/a> demonstrated that even in 2010 \u2013 sixteen years after their debut \u2013 Faulkner and his band could still deliver the goods.<\/p>\n But twelve years is a long time to wait for a followup. Happily, though, Chariot of the Gods<\/em> proves itself worth the wait. Less eclectic than Purity of Essence<\/i> (or for glass-half-full types, let\u2019s say \u201cmore focused\u201d), it\u2019s nonetheless full of all of the ingredients that made those first three albums an essential part of one\u2019s record collection.<\/p>\n Consistency is an underrated virtue (perhaps unless one overdoes it a la<\/i> Oasis). And the fact that three members of the quartet \u2013 Faulkner, guitarist Brad Shepherd and bassist Richard Grossman \u2013 have been in the band since 1988 is a key to the band\u2019s signature sound. (Drummer Nik Reith joined in 2015, so no newcomer is he.)<\/p>\n Faulkner\u2019s voice doesn\u2019t seem to have aged a day since he sang \u201c(Let\u2019s All) Turn On.\u201d The powerful, soaring guitars are placed into a close, intimate mix\/arrangement; the band swings for the fences but skillfully avoids the too-polished arena rock vibe that lessens the authenticity of others\u2019 efforts. They rock hard and aggressively on tunes like \u201cI Come from Your Future,\u201d and they prove they can still turn out melodic rock of the first order with the ba-ba-ba-isms of \u201cEquinox.\u201d<\/p>\n One delicious outlier on the album is the wittily-titled \u201cGot To Get You Out of My Life,\u201d with a sound that mashes up Lou Reed, The Jazz Butcher and T. Rex, but still somehow manages to sound like Faulkner and his pals.<\/p>\n For anyone who cherishes those early albums, irresistibly singalong songs like \u201cCarry On\u201d will transport you right back to the musical part of the \u201880s that valued authentic and passionate rock of the uncluttered sort. And Chariot of the Gods<\/i> can stand on your shelf proudly alongside those early LPs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Right out of the gate, The Hoodoo Gurus showcased a high energy, passionate and good-humored approach to rock\u2019n\u2019roll. When they debuted in 1984 with the thrilling Stoneage Romeos, they were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22809,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,62,65],"tags":[1008],"class_list":["post-22808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-release","category-rawk","category-review","tag-hoodoo-gurus","cat-49-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22808"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22822,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22808\/revisions\/22822"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}