Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Muck And The Mires, Dirty Water Records 2020.
Muck And The Mires is a Boston U.S.A. based band that has a retro sound that is decidedly 1960s British pop/rock Invasion.
If you can imagine the Hamburg Beatles, early Who and Kinks, mixed with the punkish energy and drive of The Ramones you come somewhere near their sound.
Greetings From Muckingham Palace was produced by the legendary Jim Diamond (The White Stripes, The Fleshtones, The Sonics) and it is being distributed by Dirty Water Records, one of my favourite labels because of their desire to keep music real.
Whenever possible DW record using analogue equipment to recreate the warm sound that only comes from recording pre-digital.
There are 14 tracks on the disc that traverse many of the sub-genres of ‘60s rock from the Merseybeat sound of Don’t Start Running Away through to the psychedelia of Strange Waves and on to the pop of Cupid’s Not A Friend Of Mine.
They even indulge in some early garage/punk in the track I’m You Man but performed with a lot more musical skill than most garage bands.
Every track is performed with the energy and excitement that was the hallmark of the 1960s.
Muck And The Mires has been around for some time but this is the first album of theirs that I’ve listened to in its entirety and I have to say that I loved it.
Every track is about two minutes long and could easily be released as a single.
There are musical hooks galore to grab you and they won’t let go until you’ve reached the end of the album.
It’s amazing how authentic their sound is, any track could be transplanted into a suitable sixties album and not be out of place.
The band came to prominence back in 2004 when they featured on MTV as winners of Steven Van Zandt’s (E-Street Band) National Battle of the Garage Band Contest and apparently, they’ve been touring ever since.
Greetings From Muckingham Palace faithfully recreates the excitement of one of the most influential periods in popular music.
It’s a very good album and not just a nostalgia piece.
