Rockets
Rocket Roll

THE REVIEW

The relentless réclame of the Rockets reaches its final episode: it is time for the fifth and last studio album of the Michigan rockers, just before they each went their separate ways, bidding farewell with a final live record. "Rocket Roll" is strong and intense, let's say the hardest of the bunch, with deeper and more effective sounds. It dates back to 1982.

What does the convent offer?: There's the opening "The Record Machine" which is perfect rock 'n' roll, somewhat like Status Quo, but David Gilbert's voice is much more determined and appropriate. Even more so in "Rock 'n' Roll Girl" which sounds like AC/DC, with those crowded, torn choruses. Continuing the game, the next track "Gonna Crash" in turn smells of Cheap Trick, due to the shifting voice and the myriad of guitars that alternate, all with divine sounds.

"(I Wanna) Testify" is their reinterpretation of a huge hit by the Parliaments, dated 1967. There was more soul than rock 'n' roll in the last Rockets, before the end. That we are at the end of the adventure is also evident from a self-cover: track 5 "Gimme Your Love" blatantly resembles "I Want You to Love" from a couple of previous records. The topic is always the same: favor me it!

"Born in Detroit", naturally 100% rock 'n' roll, is the anthem to their city, a hotbed of loud and proletarian rock. Sometimes adrenaline-pumping, as in the subsequent "All Night Love".

"Kid with the Heart" is dominated by a nice bass line, "Rollin' and Tumblin'" is still an obsessive and hard rock blues, with a great McCarty, one of the best-played black Les Pauls in the world. But this is not in "Mean Streets", which reveals itself as a minor tone finale.

A snippet of Jimmy McCarty, interviewed some time ago by an Italian journalist: "I'll tell you the key to understanding the difference between Hard Rock and Rock & Roll: Led Zeppelin were the best hard band in the world, and Bonzo the most incredible of rock drummers... because Rock is the balls, the strength... while Roll is the blues, the Soul. The harder you hit, the more the Roll is pushed aside. Hard is a white interpretation of black music, but Rock & Roll is an invention of blacks, of Chuck Berry... The Led Zeppelin were the Rock and the Stones are the Roll. Yet, no matter how far Jimmy Page could push, you could always hear him stay connected with the Blues. That's why, in my opinion, the Led Zeppelin were never a Metal band, not even for a second".

Pure gospel. I love this great blues person. To feel his divinity firsthand, type "Cactus Live at the Isle of Wight '70: No Need to Worry/Parchman Farm".