Guida

Giuda are a band hailing from Rome, intent on celebrating glam rock’s ‘let’s dress up and have a good time’ vibe. Their second album release ‘Let’s Do It Again ’emphasizes even more than their debut album ‘Racey Roller’, the essence of short and sweet rock tunes, with 3 minute deadlines, no guitar solo’s as such but boogie woogie rock, not fast but gritty, chants to sing along to, plenty of handclaps.

All this can be done only if that essential element is present, the ‘walking’ shuffle groove of the drums, introduced by producer Mike Leander with his Glitter Band sound, at the time using two drummers to evoke this beat. Here with production work by Danilo Silvestri along with guitarist Lorenzo Moretti, the sound of the drums are perfect making me reach for my belt loops, stick in my thumbs and swing my torso to many of these call and response songs.


The album, released on the ‘Damaged Goods ’label opens with the single ‘Wild Tiger Woman’. A great example of what is to follow, with plenty of tongue in cheek lyrics ala Mud or The Sweet, the classic shuffle beat really does make you forget about the gas bill, or why West Ham can’t seem to get a proper striker. It’s a pity that Guida can’t strut their stuff on TOTP anymore because it would make for perfect viewing.

‘Yellow Dash’ whatever that means, seems built on T Rex’s ‘Hot Love’ with this showaddywaddy chant, nice rasping guitar, it all seems to click. ‘Get That Goal’ name checks the band members, where they invite themselves to “get that goal”, reminding me when Wang Chung asked us to ‘have fun and WC tonight’! ‘Teenage Rebel’ is a tribute to The Sweet with their “quasi” ‘Fox on the Run’ intro and ‘Blockbuster’ style verse. But it sounds great and it’s never too late to shout “Teenage Rebel” out loud is it for “Fox Sake”!

‘Rave On’ reminds me of an old single of mine ‘Drummerman’ by Tonite, straight out rock’n’roll where the “boys are back in town” and Saturday night is upon us. ‘Hold Me Tight’ is full of vocal echo just like Mud or Alvin Stardust would croon to the world and the drums and guitars sounds are so good that it works a treat even though being Italians and so unable to say the “th” sound in “the” (tongue twister), they sing “Under de moonlight” ; cracks me up no end.

‘Roller Skates Rule OK’ and ‘Fat Boy Boogie’ are filler really, the former having no lyric apart from the title thrown in the mix, the latter rather too pedestrian. ‘Get On The Line’ is unusual as it sounds more like The Hives, the drum sound being more contemporary but it’s a good track. The album ends with ‘Hey Hey’ that has the familiar Glitter Band feel, going 30 seconds over the allotted 3 minutes for an extra and rather superfluous instrumental break.

Still, Giuda have made a pretty neat little album that gets better and better on repeated listens and begs being heard live where they add the visual effects this music deserves. They will build on their international appeal that came from the debut album and I will surprised if this doesn’t get airplay on British radio. Get your thumbs in position!