Robert Jon & The Wreck 's new album "Heartbreaks & Last Goodbyes" Review
Robert Jon & The Wreck’s new album “Heartbreaks & Last Goodbyes” is released by Joe Bonamassa’s Journeyman Records on Friday August 22nd.
The album is available to pre-order worldwide on CD and vinyl from – https://shop.robertjonandthewreck.com/
I get it. Really, I do.. Robert Jon and The Wreck - the hardest working band in the world, and to keep themselves in the spotlight they release each track almost before the echo of Henry James’ guitar reverb has died away. I’m all for the one-off single or teaser tracks, but, the problem with making everything available as it happens means that releasing the album isn’t a big deal, it’s just Business As Usual, - an Agile product release process that gets the product to the user as quickly as possible. ..and it should be a VERY big deal!
I purposely never listened to any other tracks until I had a copy of Heartbreak & Last Goodbyes - but maybe I’m too old school and in the minority.
It's good, it's VERY good.
"Sitting Pretty" hits the ground running with a breakneck riff and I assume Animal from the Muppets on drums as surely there is no way that Andrew Espantman can keep that pace up for an entire gig! (Spoiler: he can)
“Ashes in the Snow” is that classy, southern tinged mid tempo song that RJ&TW have made their own. You start singing the chorus before you’ve realised you know it.
“Highway” another sneaky ninja chorus that wraps around your brain before you see it coming. 2 days later I’m still singing ‘she don’t break’ in my head at any available opportunity.
Photo Credit: © Rob Bondurant
“Old Man” possibly my favourite song on the album - great vocal performance and a vibe that many bands would sell their mothers for.
“Dark Angel” - great riff and an audience participation “hoo hoo” section. They know EXACTLY what they were doing when they recorded this.
“Long Gone” - Every member of Lynyrd Skynyrd is currently slapping their forehead and wondering how they hell they missed writing this riff.. Another contender for favourite song on the album.
“Better of me” - timeless stuff - as with many RJ&TW tracks, if you had no idea who they were and you were told to place this track in a certain decade - you would struggle - and that’s a good thing!
“I Wanna Give It” - The Ballad - great lyrics, great guitar, great performance…I suspect may have a long, shredding, solo at the end when played live
“Heartbreak & Last Goodbyes” - The album title track - another contender for favourite track - immediately made me think of "Last Light on the Highway" for some reason. Seemed to end a bit too soon for me.. maybe another extended version on tour.
“Keep Myself Clean” - ok THIS is my favourite track on the album- other bands would have this as their stand out track, but I bet RJ&TW got it down in about 5 minutes. If anyone wants to know what RJ&TW sound like - play them this. loud.
Great album, and I think it will grow on me even more - Last Light on the Highway and Red Moon Rising are still their best work as far as I am concerned, but this is up there and could well overtake them after a few more plays.
