Rock'N'Roll have mercy!
Coming out of New York City, Mooney Suzuki are a band that could very well jump into a time machine and live happily ever after in the 1970's. Their sound is like a cross between The Black Crowes and Lynyrd Skynyrd with a hint of The Rolling Stones thrown in for good measure!
Having already appeared on six compilation albums, including the soundtrack to the hit Jack Black movie, School Of Rock, Mooney Suzuki have been fairly prolific in their musical releases since they were formed back in 1997. 'Have Mercy' is their fourth studio album, although it follows up last's years "EP", entitled, 'The Maximumblack EP' which consisting of eleven tracks is an album not an EP in my book!
First song, '99%' starts off with Stones-Esque guitar riff, before the vocals kick in with singer Sammy James Jr sounding a little like Skynyrd's original singer Ronnie Van Zant. It's got that old school rhythm & blues feel packed with female back up singers. 'The Broke Heart Of Mine' is a more laid back song with keyboards and hand claps that it could be a simple folk'n'roll song from the 50's. Things are brought a little more contemporary with melodic guitars over a slow bass line in 'Adam And Eve'.
There is a simple country/folk feel to a lot of the songs here which is always welcome like, 'Rock 'N' Roller Girl' which is a little bit like Soul Asylum if Dave Pirner's vocals were deeper. Then 'First Comes Love' is like a Bon Jovi song from the 80's done with the style of their new album, which also has the country leanings the same as this. It's a catchy mid-tempo number that is quick enough not to be a ballad, but simple and beautiful at the same time.
With so much talk of country music you would've thought that you had heard it all in the first seven songs, however they really go to town with the barn-dance shindig that is, 'Good Ol' Alcohol' which has the tongue firmly in the cheek whilst banjos, and tubas play out, and vocals that sound like they should come straight out of the soundtrack from a Dukes Of Hazzard episode. The lyrics are all about the comedic perils of drugs and alcohol. It's unexpected, but a strong hidden beauty like the discovery of a secret stash of moonshine, y'all.
The easy listening of, 'The Prime Of Life' is probably best not mentioned, so we'll skip straight on to Garth Brook's like acoustic tune of, 'Down But Not Out' which is better than the description might suggest. The album ends with the second bonus track, 'You Never Really Wanted To Rock'N'Roll', which is basically 'Great Balls Of Fire' with the lyrics changed. This is pure rock'n'roll at its best. Yes, I know it's not original, but this is what music is all about, and I'm always ready to gel my hair back and slip on my brothel creepers!
Mooney Suzuki are a band that love the original backbone of music in rock'n'roll, rhythm & blues and country & western, and they do their very best to mix and match these styles up to produce a good solid album of interesting songs. Most bands will have drawn influences from many of the bands that I could reel off here, that sound like Mooney Suzuki, but perhaps it could be said that these guys bring it together better than most. It's good clean fun, and if you don't like it, then chances are, you never really wanted to rock and roll!