Review:'Altman, Johnny' 'Never Too Late to Rock & Roll'
- Label: 'Nub Music / The Orchard'
- Genre: 'Rock'
- Catalogue No: '29th January 2021'
Our Rating:
Having long since disappeared from our screens as Eastenders’ ‘Nasty’ Nick Cotton, apart from the occasional turn in panto and some Daz ads, many people probably haven’t really been giving too much thought to what John Altman’s been up to. Having done a stint fronting 70s / 80s glam rockers Heavy Metal Kids, he’s also had his own band, Ressurrection – and now, at 69, he’s releasing his first solo album.
One may be forgiven for this being some godawful vanity project, a bunch of covers paying homage to Johnny’s favourite artists, and while the songs do betray ‘classic’ influences like The Beatles, The Who, Led Zep, Bowie, and Queen, this is a collection of 12 original numbers penned or co-penned by Altman over the span of some 30 years. What’s more, it’s stylistically varied and the songs are played with a real enthusiasm.
Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprise, but nevertheless it is, that the album blasts off with a rollocking punky rock stomp in the shape of ‘Looking for the Love of My Life’. Lyrically, it may not be the most poetic, but Altman sounds sincere and, musically, it’s a rollicking four-chord thrashabout in the vein of Sham 69, something Altman returns to on ‘Twisted Mind’ and at the close, with the full-throttle punk rock of the title track: propelled by some piston-pumping drumming, it’s genuinely exhilarating.
In between, there’s an array of songs, from the boogie-woogie rock of ‘Attention, Attention’ to the wistful glam-hued ballad of lead single ‘Hallucinating You’ and the desert rock workout of ‘Directing Films’, through which Altman comes across as sincere and unpretentious: the production – courtesy of Mark Christopher Lee of The Pocket Gods, who also plays bass, guitar, drums, and piano on the album – isn’t excessively polished, giving the songs a warmth and immediacy, which suits them well.
There’s a lot of energy, and a lot of humanity on display here, and ‘Never Too Late to Rock & Roll’ is a solid album.
