Takin' A Ride

At six months, it almost feels like Pat Todd & The Rankoutsiders are due for a release! Pat Todd & The Rankoutsiders have been on a roll lately and when the iron’s hot, you got to strike. And they are striking! Including albums, singles, splits, and EPs, they have 23 releases in the past 10 years (not to mention that there were a number of excellent releases before that too!)

Coming up at #24 is “I’ll Dream Alone”, the latest full length album from Pat Todd & The Rankoutsiders. Like the other albums, you know what to expect: a bunch of rockin’ songs and a couple slower songs to shake things up. As I’ve always often said before, if you’ve achieved perfection in your music, there is no reason to change. You don’t need to try your hand at light jazz, electronica, or orchestral music. Cheap people in the comments section on social media like to use that as an insult to bands like AC/DC these days. “They haven’t progressed!” or “All their albums sound the same!” But that shouldn’t be an insult. It’s a badge of honor! They’re not chasing trends. They’re doing what they do! What they were born to do! And like many of the greats (AC/DC, Slayer, Motorhead, and the like), Pat Todd and the Rankoutsiders have no reason to change. They’ve got their sound down and they know what they’re doing. They’ve achieved perfection so there no need to ruin what’s already good. Influenced by the rock ‘n roll of the Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, and the Sonics, combined with the punk ‘n roll of the Replacements, the Ramones, and Nervous Eaters, you got rock ‘n roll at its purest essence: highly energetic, raw and stripped down with no effects or pretentions. Perfection.

The production on this is great, everything is audible and mixed well. Great separation between the guitars. Bass and drums providing a solid foundation with some wailing guitars and Pat singing over everything. Everyone sounds great here.

Since Pat was gracious enough to provide me an advance of this album, I have the time to go through it song by song to give you a tease so you’ll know what to expect when it comes out on later this month.

“Desire Has Left Town”: this starts off the album with a quick shout of “ONE TWO” then goes right into some in your face rock ‘n roll. Classic Pat Todd and if you heard him before, this is right along the same lines. And if you haven’t heard him before, this is a great song for your introduction.

“Ambition Street”: This song comes in with a similar bouncy groove as Aerosmith’s “Mama Kin” when the lyrics are being sung. And what a groove!

“We’re Outta Time”: I always had the feeling that Pat Todd and the Rankoutsiders come into the studio fully prepared and ready to go, but this is one of the rare songs that was written and learned in the studio, with the lyrics being added later. This has a slower beat to it, but still pretty rockin’ with some great back and forth vocals during the chorus and some great soloing.

“Mediocre Heart”: This is one of two slower songs, i.e. ballads. But don’t let that scare you. It’s along the lines of a ballad that the Stones would have done in the late ’60s/early ’70s, like “Dead Flowers”. Features some excellent harmonica playing via Pat.

“Beyond The County Line”: This is another one that has a bouncy beat to it. Like the Clash’s “London Calling”, but more upbeat. I’m only giving you this comparison so you have something to go on, not that this sounds anything like “London Calling”. Some “Yeah yeah yeah” background vocals are added to this beat, which turns it up a notch. One thing I’ve notice more on this album than a lot of other Pat Todd albums is that there seem to be more background vocals and the soloing has been stepped up a notch. They got a really good thing going on, and like I said earlier, you may as well strike while that iron’s hot!

“The Last Of Me”: Another great song with a bouncy beat, a catchy chorus, background vocals, harmonica and this also brings to mind the Clash to me. Earlier Clash, but with a classic Pat Todd catchy chorus.

“Blood & Gunpowder”: Like side 1, side 2 also begins with a blast. Starting with some wailing solos and goes right into the chorus. Don’t bore us, get to the chorus! Short and sweet, it gets everything it wants to say out very concisely.

“Night Beat”: is a song about an old time radio show about a detective. A catchy mid-tempo number which melds the tribute to this radio program (available at archive.org) with classic Pat Todd lyrics about goddamn heroes and their empty lies.

“It Ain’t All My Fault”: this is an excellent fun song with long time guitarist Nick Alexander trading off vocals with Pat on this one. Some great call and response vocals and again, pure raw rock ‘n roll with some Chuck Berry riffs and a Nervous Eater’s “Loretta” type of groove going to it.

“Can’t Get Arrested In This Town”: The other acoustic based slower song. Humorous self-deprecating lyrics. “I can start the fire. I can burn it all down. But I can’t get arrested in this town.” Again, it’s a song the Stones could have written back in the early ’70s. Great lyrics and some excellent soloing as the song slowly fades to an end. In the liner notes, Pat threatens that there’s a rock ‘n roll version of this song ready. I can’t wait to hear it.

“The World It Don’t Need You”: Dual vocals on this one with some more crafty lyrics. Like all the songs on this album (and all their albums, to be honest), this has that “live in the studio” feeling, which make it sound like you’re right there.

“I’ll Dream Alone”: The title track is saved for last. Another song that is fast and blaring, pulling no punches. And also another song that was basically written in the studio. And another song that could be on any “best of Pat Todd compilation”. How is this even possible? Possibly the best song on the album, as it sticks in your head.

It blows me away how many songs an artist can write and just keep getting better and better. People sometimes ask me what the best Pat Todd album is or “which one should I buy?”, and there really is no answer to that. Each one contains different songs with the same characteristics, which are raw rock ‘n roll, well crafted songs (I think Pat Todd is up there with Ginger Wildheart when it comes to songwriting), heartfelt lyrics and great riffs and rhythms. Each of their albums is great. Each one has at least half a dozen songs that deserve to be on any “best of” Pat Todd compilations. “I’ll Dream Alone” is no exception.

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