Firebird - Hot Wings

Pity that this band broke up last year, seeing as I just now found out about them.Good bar bands are hard to find, but when you do it's every bit as rewarding as the experience can offer in terms of simple, raucous entertainment. The formula's remained unchanged for decades, usually sitting somewhere in the blues rock portion of the spectrum accompanied by whiskey-soaked vocals, stomping beats, and enough swagger to give Mick Jagger an inferiority complex. Founder, guitarist/vocalist, Bill Steer is better known for his metal work with Carcass and Napalm Death, but moved to Australia in the latter part of the 90s and developed a love for 70s style blues rock, forming Firebird in 1999.

Sadly, this British blues-rock trio has recently called it a day, but we're left with this re-release of their 2006 album, Hot Wings. And they do a fine job of just plain rocking out with the Led Zeppelin tribute Misty Morning, the ZZ Top flavored Play The Fool, the Mountainesque Horse Drawn Man and a host of other classic-sounding tunes.

The Bottom Line: It's always interesting when artists follow their passions and take risks with music that's totally in a different direction.  Win or lose, you have to respect their conviction. In this case, you have to be impressed by Steer's vision of such a band before the whole retro craze really blew up.

Tracks to Light A Cigarette And Down A Shot To: Good Times, Horse Drawn Man, I Wish You Well, Needle in the Groove 

- Genghis really started to dig this album by the end...