by BRIAN GIFFIN
AFTER over 40 years of rocking it’s difficult to deny that the Hard-Ons are anything less than a national treasure, and now with two back-to-back top five albums they’ve finally got the chart cred to back it up. Not that they’ve ever wanted or needed to, but now at least they can, damn it!
Blackie and Ray are the first to admit that getting Tim Rogers into their band has more than helped them in terms of both popularity and notoriety, but there’s been more to it than just getting a very well known dude into their underground band and suddenly cracking the top end of the album charts after a lifetime of being virtually ignored.
The ‘Dons (thanks Murray Engleheart for that one) have just kept getting better and better as a band over the decades of their existence. …That Riff’s Been Taken was a cracker of a record and as if to prove that wasn’t just an explosion of creative relief in the wake of a very dark time for the band, Ripper ‘23 is, well, a ripper. Murray Ruse delivers an astonishing turn at the kit behind the sparkling pure power-pop charm of “Apartment for Two” to open proceedings and the rest is just a riot of sizzling pop and searing punk for which the word “sophisticated” is never too far away. “Goin’ it Alone” ripples with a psychedelia and vocal delivery that makes it sound closer to one of Rogers’ songs from his other band while “Make Me Sick” is just bald-faced gnarly punk rock. “Sling Shot” is another punky outburst tempered with Rogers’ dreamy vox and “Chopping Block” and “In Falls Everything” tie muscular riffs with their innate pop sensibilities.
The melodies shimmer and solos zap while Ray and Murray keep everything taut, something that, to be fair, hasn’t always been a Hard-Ons trait. If Ripper ‘23 wasn’t already good enough, “Ordinary Things” sees them playing out a Ziggy-era Bowie daydream with Blackie channeling Ronno through bluesy riffs and spacey dynamics. It’s a sensational way to finish what is surely the best Hard-Ons release ever.
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