… and you should too. I mean, what choice have we got? There’s darkness on the doorstep while all that national and international chaos from last year looks like it’s getting renewed for another season. We are going to have to look for the light a little closer to home, person to person, on the streets where we live. There’s a lot in The Rifles most recent long player Love Your Neighbour that speaks to our present moment that bears reflecting on.
Ok, so with lyrics like “don’t cry your heart out cause nobody cares” perhaps opening cut “The Kids Won’t Stop” doesn’t sound like the motivational music I’m supposed to be offering to kick off the new year. But stick with me for a moment – there is some a real-world optimism going on here. The point of the song as I read it is that whatever you may be thinking about what is going on in the world the adults in the room are just going to have get up and get on it with it because our kids are going to need us regardless. All delivered with a whimsical, driving, sometimes dance-able emphasis. Moving on, “Days of Our Lives” has the jaunty feel of a 1982 era Madness tune and who doesn’t need a bit of that? Then “Mr. Sunflower” is where the album title appears in the lyrics, with a message that says ‘share a little love with the world’ and you might just get some back. It’s the leap of faith that makes humanity possible.
I hope it’s coming through just how great this new Rifles album is. I only discovered them in 2016 with their Big Life album. From there I travelled backwards through their solid back catalogue, impressed by their social commentary and relentless hookiness. It seemed to me like they took up where The Jam left off, with flashes of Billy Bragg here and there. So waiting for this new album to arrive seemed like an eternity. But Love Your Neighbour is as good as anything they’ve put out. I love how tracks like “There is My Heart” seem propelled by a deft use of mellotron sounding keyboards. Or how songs like “Out for the Weekend” clearly are meant to devolve into a raucous singalong at the band’s shows or your Friday night party. “Money Go Round” is pretty timely, turning everyone’s economic crisis into a dance vamp, complete with ringing cash register. And you don’t get a much more ‘new years’ sentiment than “Starting Monday” where the singer promises to start ‘turning my life around’ after just ‘one more for the road.’ It’s an idler of a tune that becomes a rollicking pop banger in the chorus.
Maybe we can’t change the world in quite the way we would like but we can change the station, put out a different message, and in that small way contribute something positive. The Rifles sound like they’ve started down that path already and I’m all for following.
It’s end-of-the-year ‘best of’ list time and we here at Poprock Record wish to join the almost evangelical rush to judgment that accompanies such proceedings, though with a twist. I mean, who am I to say whose records are the best? If I put them up on the blog then you already know I think they are pretty great and worthy of Beatlesque adulation. Still, I do feel like shining an extra light on a few songs that just screamed ‘hit single’ to my 1970s AM radio-trained ears. So instead of a ‘top ten’ list I’ve assembled a list of twelve ‘missing’ hit singles, songs that would easily top the charts in my alternate poprock universe.
The Rifles are a monumental talent. Over five albums this east London band has honed sonic influences that include Oasis, the Jam, the Clash and host of other late seventies/early eighties bands into their own distinctive sound. Early records No Love Lost and Great Escape have a load of great songs like “She’s the Only One” and “The Great Escape” but things really take off for me with 2011’s Freedom Run. Check out “Long Walk Back” with its textbook perfect opening riff and shimmering vocals that draw you in while the hooks just won’t let go. Why this song didn’t zoom to the top of the charts is beyond me. The whole record is strong but the acoustic “Everline” is also a standout track. Since then two more albums only confirm this band’s strengths as songwriters and performers. 2014’s None the Wiser rocks with “Minute Mile,” a super single, and the lovely “All I Need,” another breezy tuneful acoustic-ish number. The band’s most recent release is 2016’s Big Life and there is no let up in the quality. If it were up to me, I would release “Wall Around Your Heart” as the potential hitmaker.Minute MileWall Around Your Heart
Poprock Record 