The rough and ready sinewy sound of The Respectables’ guitar on the single “The Power of Rock ‘n’ Roll” sums up the title better than any words can. This isn’t groundbreaking songwriting we’re dealing with here. The Respectables focus, instead, on what they do best – crafting 4/4 rock and roll surging with their own individual voice and brimming with the same passion that inspired them to first pick up instruments long ago. It’s hard for any musical artist to remain connected with the initial impulse that propelled them onto their chosen path, but The Respectables weathered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortunes and remain standing tall in a radically different musical landscape than they faced when they first banded together in 1991. This new single, however, provides stark and hard-rocking testimony that desire never has to die.
It isn’t passion and desire they figuratively beat their chests about. The song is deceptively subtle. What may sound superficially simple to you isn’t – it takes considerable skill and experience to put into place a tight and unified sound like The Respectables achieve in “The Power of Rock ‘n’ Roll”. Misplace a few notes, lose your timing, and the jog is up. They strike a steady balance, as well, between the instruments – the guitar, drums, bass, and vocals are never engaged in a tug of war for sonic supremacy but, instead, move together in punchy well produced union.
Producer Bernard Fowler contributes some key supporting vocals in the song as a change of pace to Sébastien Plante’s voice, but Plante is an exceptional singer for this sort of material. He gives each line its own distinct character and the phrasing never sounds flat-footed or uninspired. Instead, he sings with obvious enthusiasm for the material and passes with flying colors any test the wide-screen chorus poses for his voice.
He has a strong set of lyrics to convey though, as stated earlier, no one is striving to formulate a complicated message here. Listening to the words, however, did lead me to the thought that maybe, after a certain chronological point, the thing that drives older rock musicians on is how the power of rock ‘n’ roll keeps them feeling young when their bodies and reflections in the mirror are beginning to tell them otherwise. If so, I say more power to them.
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Power-Rock-N-Roll/dp/B07HHDKQGT
It is as clear as the nose on my face why the band has chosen this for a single release. The Respectables’ “The Power of Rock ‘n’ Roll” is a tune capable of uniting audiences large and small, playing well in a sweaty club setting or a large arena, and communicates with listeners in a straightforward and unvarnished way. There’s a video for the song as well that emphasizes those same qualities. We need more songs capable of bringing people together under a common banner and The Respectables have hit pay dirt with one. “The Power of Rock ‘n’ Roll” rocks with conviction and has a beaming personality that’s difficult, if not impossible, to resist.
Lloyd Bear
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