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September 2023

• Rockett Love: Galactic Circus
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Diamond Dog: Quitters & Complainers

Retro/Classic Hard Rock

Studio: 3.0/5.0 / Live 4.0/5.0

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Livewire / Cargo Records
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 22.07.2015

Once more let's party down like it's 1972, give or take a few years. Sweden's Diamond Dogs are back with their tenth album of boogie blues retro rock, Quitters & Complainers. They're like a mash up the Rolling Stones and Mott The Hoople, with plenty of groove, blues guitar, horns, and some swanky old school Hammond organ.

Diamond Dog

Largely, I've found previous albums to be a platter of party tunes, mostly rowdy and happy. Alternatively, this album sounds different. Many of the songs sound chunky, slow, and just plain boring like Broken, Silver Star Delight, Black Ribbons, and Goodbye Troubled Soul. It feels like some where some how the boys in the band lost a bit of their enthusiasm and soul. Now both seem contrived and propped up by mediocre songs. Conversely, the fun and energy are found elsewhere in Alright Alright Alright, Stop Barking Up The Wrong Tree, Rollercoaster and the bright piano driven Back To Babylon. The riffs are brisk, the groove bouncing, and the enthusiasm addictive in these songs. As for the remaining, give an honorable mention to Out Of My Heart, another song lead by the piano thread.

The real prize here is the bonus CD, Let's Have It - Live in Bilbao. It's a massive 70 minutes of the Diamond Dogs doing what they do best, playing live. You can't mask or ignore the abundant enthusiasm, the raw presentation, and the kinetic energy of the tunes. The studio recording is no match for the live material. Best tracks: Every Little Crack, Lift It Up, Sad To Say I'm Sorry, Honked, and Wild Side of Life. But where's the DVD?

So skip the studio recording of new songs, Quitters & Complainers, where Diamond Dogs dumb down to what seems derivative and mediocre even for them. Go for the live set, Let's Have It - Live in Bilbao, where they really rock out live with all the glory and enthusiasm of Seventies retro rock.

Diamond Dogs - Silver Star Delight

Skip the studio recording of new songs, Quitters & Complainers, where Diamond Dogs dumb down to what seems derivative and mediocre even for them. Go for the live set, Let's Have It - Live in Bilbao, where they really rock out live like it's 1972, give or take a few years.

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Formed in 1999 by singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Erik Martensson, Sweden's Eclipse is well into their third decade of making music. In the recent past, their recordings and reputation have ... [ Read More ]