Album Review: Rock & Roll by Frank Turner

Review Summary: And now who'd have thought that something as simple as rock 'n' roll would save us all?I like to think that most of us here on Sputnik Music view music as an integral part of the human experience. Especially how it can embody an ethos in ways that are almost impossible to explain unless experienced through it. Frank Turner understands the salvation that music can bring.

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He simply doesn’t know how to stop creating goodness The seemingly never-ending touring and recording machine that is Frank Turner thankfully continues to roll along in fine shape, the latter taken care of this time round with ‘Rock & Roll’, a five-track EP recorded in Crouch End between epic Stateside gigging stints with the likes of Social Distortion. Far from being an inter-album stop-gap, this EP represents nothing less than the fruits of a musical brain that simply doesn’t know how to stop creating goodness. Lyrical themes this time round focus on the simple joy that music can bring to anyone, anywhere.

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Having now been a critically acclaimed solo act for longer than he was a member of the critically acclaimed, post-hardcore outfit Million Dead, folk troubadour Frank Turner keeps plugging along and pouring his heart out whenever he’s got a microphone and a guitar in his hands. On his latest, Rock and Roll EP, Turner doesn’t necessarily play the according-to-Hoyle titular genre, but his passion for it shines through on these five meta-narrative love letters to music. Sounding as righteous as Billy Bragg and as bighearted as the Waterboys’ Mike Scott, Turner vocalizes every music lover’s deepest hope on the stunning “I Still Believe”, singing “Who’d have thought, that after all, something as simple as rock and roll would save us all?” Meanwhile, “Pass It Along” explains what fuels a singer/songwriter, and includes an open letter to Bob Dylan, natch.

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When U.K. post-hardcore outfit Million Dead split in 2005, vocalist Frank Turner grabbed his acoustic guitar and began traveling the long, winding path of a solo career. It may have seemed an unlikely thing at the time, but three albums and five years later, it was clearly the right decision. Blending the personal and political to powerful effect, his earnest, socially conscious songs and his relentless work ethic have seen him play all around the globe, his exuberant live shows leaving a dedicated following everywhere he sets foot.

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