Underneath the normal crap that populates the UK charts these days there is a growing rock scene that takes it's inspiration for the heady days of the 70's. Bands like The Answer, Winterville and the subject of this review Roadstar are proving that there is life beyond manufactured boy and girl bands. Having followed Roadstar closely for the last couple of years I was expecting the bands debut album to be good, but bloody hell Grand Hotel is beyond even my expectations.

OK so there is nothing that could be described as original on the twelve songs that comprise Grand Hotel. Roadstar have taken a heady mix of Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, The Black Crowes and even Queen and constructed an album that is chock full of songs that groove and swing where necessary and rock all the right places. The band may be young in terms of age, but that belies the swagger and confidence, arrogance almost, that underpins the performance here.

Opener 'Ready To Go' certainly has a Led Zeppelin feel courtesy of the guitar riffs and sounds but the album doesn't really hit it's stride until the title track and most definitely 'Get This'. The former has an AC/DC groove to it a la Def Leppard on the High & Dry album, whilst the latter, retaining an AC/DC groove, is perhaps the most catchy tune of the whole shebang. The stop/start riff and melody work perfectly in conjunction with each other.  Mind you Roadstar take a little bit of a left turn with 'Out Of The Blue' which kicks off with multi harmony vocals that wouldn't have been out of place on a Queen record with a Beatles-esque melody and this sophistication continues throughout the entire song, mixing piano and  some tasty guitar licks, the solo especially takes it inspiration for a certain Mr. May.

'The trio that include Let's Get It Started' ,'Stone' and 'Magic Hat' all have more of a bluesy feel. 'Stone' especially incorprates a Rolling Stones vibe and the use of the backing vocals in the chorus gives the song a slight gospel appeal whilst 'Magic Hat' mixes the Black Crowes and Led Zep to good effect. 'Misplaced Paradise' brings a nice change of pace to proceedings, acoustic led with some "spacey" keyboard washes - not a true ballad, more trippy hippy really. However with the flower power moment passed the band rocks things back up with 'All I Want' & 'Liar' both of which are slightly below the standard set elsewhere on the record but certainly bad. However the wail of feedback that opens  penultimate track 'Stolen My Pride' shows the song means business and once again the band are back into Led Zep territory, and they stay there with  the closing number of Grand Hotel, namely 'Keep It Alive'.

Apart from the songs themselves the most impressive thing about Grand Hotel is the production. In this day and age of Pro Tools and digital paraphernalia it is easy to go overboard with bells and whistles. However the band have instead opted for an almost lo-fi feel to the album. Sure it's a CD, but the sound and vibe that they portray gives the feeling more of vinyl mainly due to the warmth that has been imparted into the record. Sure it doesn't hurt to have an industry stalwart like Kevin Shirley mixing your album but you need the basic material to work with and Roadstar most definitely have that in spades. All in all a very impressive debut and hopefully one that will lead on to big and bright future for the band.

'Grand Hotel' is only available through Roadstar's website at www.roadstarband.com

Let us know your views on 'Grand Hotel'

Track List

Ready To Go
Roadstar
Get This
Out Of The Blue
Let's Get It Started
Stone
Magic Hat
Misplaced Paradise
All I Want
Liar
Stolen My Pride
Keep It Alive

Line  Up

Ritchie Hevenz - Vocals
Kreepy - Guitars
Jonny Rocker - Guitars
Rob Randell - Bass
Chris Rivers - Drums