The Godfathers

The staggering comeback of London’s own Rock ‘n’ Roll mafia continues with a 20th anniversary expanded and re-mastered release of their self-titled album ‘The Godfathers’, more commonly known as the ‘Orange’ album due to its cover.

I say staggering as since their comeback in 2008, The Godfathers continue to play venues and festivals as big as they did back in their pomp 25 years ago and do so with the same raw energy and passion that defined them as one of the UK’s premier live bands of the time. Earlier this year, they also released a new album, ‘Jukebox Fury’ which was met with widespread critical acclaim and showed they had plenty of creativity and artistic talent for their long standing fans to carry on enjoying

In all honesty, I’d forgotten what a great record the ‘Orange’ album was. As with all Godfathers albums, the rock ‘n’ roll comes thick and fast. The opener ‘Free Yourself’ is a statement of intent. A ferociously song chorus backed up by killer guitar riffs in the true style of many classic Godfathers tracks. It’s immediately followed by ‘Strange About Today’, quite simply one of the finest tunes they ever released, with its raw guitars and mercurial bass playing underpinning a melodic gem. I re-discover treasures as I listen through the rest of the album. Too many to mention but particular highlights for me are the desperate blues of ‘Help Me Now’, the excruciating guitars of ‘Losing My Mind’ and the psychedelic ‘21st Century Dreaming’

The second CD consists of five previously unreleased studio demos including the previously unreleased ‘I’m Gone’ and eight previously unreleased live recordings which clearly demonstrate what a force The Godfathers were and still are live. To make sure you don’t miss out, catch them on the last leg of their UK tour. You can find all the dates here