Buckets Rebel Heart: 20 Good Summers

Dave ‘Bucket’ Colwell has already seen it, done it and along the way, often set the standard. After all you don’t anchor bands like Bad Company and Humble Pie, as well as working with ASAP (with Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden), Samson and The Jones Gang unless you can expertly handle a six-string. With all of those acts (with maybe the exception of Samson) classic rock outfits more than capable of mixing a hook, melody line and chorus to lethal effect, it should come as no shock that Buckets Rebel Heart are dipping into a similar well. Neither should it surprise that they do so rather successfully. Admittedly, initial encounters with 20 Good Summers can leave the impression that it is a run of the mill rock album, but like all of the best releases in that vein - when you suddenly realise two or three days after you last spun it that you are still singing its songs - the next listen reveals a depth of engagement you hadn’t at first noticed.

Surrounded by a band that knows its way around songs like these, drummer Paul ‘Taff’ Edwards (New Torpedoes), singer Jim Stapley (The Jones Gang), bassist Dave Boyce (The Quireboys and just about everybody else) and backing singer Mollie Marriott (the solo artist being a seriously hot property right now) are alongside Bucket every step of the way; cajoling hidden little gems from humble beginnings. If you remember the Bucket/Brian Howe/Robin Hart eras of Bad Company fondly then you’ll be right at home as the soul stirring slowie, “Rebel Heart�, hits that same spot. Whereas the album’s title track moves things into a slightly more hard rocking Americana setting. Stapley is magnificent throughout, taking the likes of “The Bridge� and raising it high as the sort of piano melody that Bon Jovi have bolstered the latter half of their career with, sticks in the mind. Here and elsewhere the inclusion of Marriott proves an inspirational choice, her shimmering, strong and instantly recognisable voice adding an engagingly different aspect whenever you hear it.

Kill For Eden’s Lyla D’Souza shows up for a guest appearance on “Customised Car�, this underrated lady’s sharp, funky confident vocal outburst taking an E Street Band like blast of horns and strutting it right around the block like the Pied Piper of New Jersey! While ex-Georgia Satellites man Rick Richards adds the sort of shout-along good times to “Radio State Of Mind� that you might have expected from his old band. However, whether it’s the considered “Mexican Sun - El Diablo�, the authentic strut of “Faraway Blues� or the Bad Company like acoustic shimmer of “Bulletproof�, its difficult not to get thoroughly caught up with a set of songs that become ever more insistent the more you hear them. Released at the tail end of 2018, 20 Good Summers deserved not to get lost in the Christmas rush and I’d suggest that if you’re looking for an album to become your soundtrack to the next warm and sunny season, then this is it right here.

Track Listing
1. Animal Beat 

2. 20 Good Summers 

3. Rebel Heart 

4. The Bridge 

5. Whiskeyland 

6. Mexican Sun - El Diablo 

7. Radio State Of Mind 

8. When Angels Fall 

9. Bulletproof

10. Customised Car 

11. Faraway Blues 

12. If You Need Me

Added: January 19th 2019
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Dave Bucket Colwell @ Facebook
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Language: english

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