Review – 40 Alexander “Red Yellow & Blue”

Independent promo demo

 

40 Alexander – one of the poppiest hard-rock outfits to emerge from Melbourne in quite a while. “Red Yellow & Blue” – three tracks thrown together onto a hand-cut hand-written sleeve and CD which does no justice to the content thereof.

 

But ignoring this, as you will when you put the disc into your player (“What cover?” you ask!) you hear so many of the sounds that have been on the radio for more than 25 years and bands have been trying to emulate with this success for just as long. Catchy guitar-driven hooks you might recognise from Jimmy Barnes, Matchbox 20, Screaming Jets or Bon Jovi, under voices you know you heard on maybe your last Uriah Heep, Black Sabbath, Free or Deep Purple record!

 

Hazy opens the account with an early-70s styled rock/pop track, leading into the stand-out second track Rock ‘n’ Roll Hysteria; an almost country-pop/rock/drivin’-down-the-highway crossover with more rock than the other ingredients. The title track rounds this disc out with more of that early-70s feel with a reminder of who and where we are in the lyrics.

 

The work that went into the website shows that these guys are not inept in the computer field, which means a little effort could have gone into the demo packaging – maybe I gripe unnecessarily, having an industry-only copy… But if you’re not one for packaging, drop by the website, check out the effects and see about an MP3 or three… snap, crackle and Power Pop indeed!

PG (Jacky) Gleeson

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