RJ Archer & the Painful Memories - Cost Of 
Loving Crisis
Release Date: 31st January 2025
I don't know much about RJ Archers & the Painful Memories but I do know that this is their third album and that 'Cost Of Loving Crisis' is a great album title. The roadhouse blues of 'Get It Together' is a great album opener that makes you feel like you've just wondered into a spit'n'sawdust bar and the band playing in the corner are pouring their pain and blues into every note. 'Barbara', by contrast, is a more rambling and prog influenced numbers with a great drum sound the patters all over the place and guitars that go from tight riffs to sprawling grunge riffs a la Soundgarden. Switching modes again, ' A Heart In Winter' is a stoop-written lament full of country heartache and blues soul before 'Out Of Line' gets us back on the road with ZZ Top meets AC/DC vibes and the meaty riffs to match.
'Blue Dancer' has a ramshackle blues quality that puts me in mind of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion while 'Time Is No Healer' is a lost British folk track from the 60s that will have you reaching for the joss sticks. The hectic, Blues Brothers meets Wilko Johnson energy of 'Burning Up' is brilliantly infectious and the superbly titled 'Neon Safari' sucks you in with a menacing riff that has something of the New Orleans swamp gas about it. Penultimate track, 'See Me Fall', wouldn't be out of place on a Jet album with its lip curled vocals and open hi-hat beat but closing number 'Got To Leave' takes us back to the foot stompin', Louisiana blues that will have you clapping along before it reaches its climax. If you like your guitar music raw, energetic, authentic and delivered with passion then RJ Archer & the Painful Memories might just be your new favourite band so why not give them a try - you've got nothing to lose but your soul.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/RJArcherMusic