Little Red Kings - 'Callous' Album Review

Tracklist:

1. Prelude

2. Said to Me

3. Josephine

4. Blacken

5. No Friend Of Mine

6. Chaperone

7. Meth Mouth Blues

8. Prize Of A Life

9. Southern France

10. A Lovers Tragedy

11. Rigor And Roll

12. Long Live The Quiet Man

13. Patience (Losing Sleep)

14. Propaganda Lie

15. Till And Toil

16. 1967

17. Fetch Me Water

British Blues Rock is alive, very well, taking some interesting side roads and kicking hard in Norfolk!

Little Red Kings are a consummate, quality sometime Blues Rock sometimes Rock band with something a little extra that’s hard to quantify. They deserve a wider audience, go listen to this music, I don’t think you will be disappointed.

The album does move away from a Blues Rock approach into a more Rock centred approach, the sign this is a good band is that it works just as well.

I thoroughly enjoyed this album and would recommend it to anyone who likes quality guitar playing with a driving rhythm section and a great Rock vocal all wrapped round by a classic British Blues Rock sound with a few twists together alongside a Classic Rock vibe.

I’m not sure how many of the great Blues Rock songs were written about gypsy girls and farm boys, 'Josephine' could be the first, on the evidence of this song, it shouldn’t be the last. A new genre may have been born.

Not every song works, but the clear majority do. Some of the lyrics are not perfect, I don’t think ‘Blacken’ works as a description for what the song is trying to say but I think I understand what they were trying to do.

There are times as the album goes on that you could forget this is a relatively unknown British band, it occasionally feels like it could be any one of a number of top quality US Rock bands, at one point I was thinking of Red Hot Chilli Peppers 'Under The Bridge', at others there is an Aerosmith vibe, yet at times they are channelling Led Zep, Free and Fleetwood Mac before they want West Coast USA.

Will I play this again, absolutely yes, I can see myself listening to it a lot. I will also try to persuade friends to give it a listen.

I occasionally have to work in Norfolk, I will now be trying to ensure that my next trip coincides with the next Little Red Kings gig.

If this is the future of British Rock I’m in, this band deserve to be big!