It has been a while in the making and if you are from Glasgow or the surrounding areas you have likely heard all the songs on this debut live already…but we are the lucky ones, now the rest of the world gets to hear just how brilliant this band are.
I have seen the boys a good few times now and every time I see them added to a bill it makes me smile. Glasgow is inundated with brilliant bands but Last Alibi have something very different to the rest. Some will say they are locked in the past, some I am sure will not take to Jamie Ramage’s smoky, dusty and gruff vocals but for me the band roll back the years to my favourite decade of music in the 80s.
It was a decade that started with NWOBHM and ended in full strength with hair metal. Hair metal really started the sub genre and the best of those were the sleaze bands. I would class early GnR, LA Guns and the kings of the movement Motley Crue as the crème de la creme. Last Alibi have taken those sounds, that attitude and some amazing songwriting into a new generation and this debut is the bastard offspring of a decade long gone with a bitch mother in a new century.
The EP starts with almost U2 guitars in “Angel Instincts” before it bursts into some dirty riffage. Ramage tears at your ears like a Peaky Blinders flat cap. This is as catchy as hell and captures the boys live set. The band are as tight as hell.
Next up is their first single which was released earlier his year. “Vice City” take Spike (from Quireboys) vocals, Mick Mars on guitars, Steve Harris on Bass and a little bit of Frankie Banalli on drums. That is some big names to band about, especially when you are making a comparison but it is fully deserved especially with on Crue tasting cocktail.
Next up is a masterpiece. “Prophet and the Thief” was always my favourite live track so to finally hear it recorded is excellent and well worth the wait. The slow finger picks from Andy Christie are sublime and then Jamie pops up with the vocals and you can hear the pain dripping through his mic. The song builds to an incredible crescendo, the guitar breakaway is beautiful and the whole tale is told like a bar room brawl, after it is all over and you sit down and take it all in, the broken furniture, the blood on the floor, the women crying and the screams of police sirens in the distance. As the scream of despair in “ nothing left for you and me” leaves your ears the despair deepens and as the song ends in “ Maybe that’s my disease” you realise you have just listened to a sure fire classic.
The EP finishes up on “Generation Dead” and it takes a huge slice of punk into its heart. It maybe the name but I always got the feel of Billy Idol on this. It has the attitude but it has that catchy 80s punk feel. It is old school punk, well removed from Green Day but you could feel a song like this would be something those boys listened to and moulded their own music. The guitar and drums on the run up to the end of this are just outstanding.
Last alibi’s debut is a dirty, sleazy ripped from the gutter piece of brilliance. If it was a guy it would sleep with your woman, slap her arse on the way out and shake your hand with a big smile the first time it saw you. This deserves to be heard around the world for all those people attending 80s tribute bands to hear. We could finally rid them of the saying “there is no good new music” and we could get their asses out to more live shows.
Bands like Last alibi need to be seen live but until they hit your town make sure you listen to this EP and support them as I can see some big things ahead for them.
Review Ritchie Birnie
