By Jim Rowland
‘Two To One’ is a new collaboration between two icons of the American and Australian proto-punk scenes – the Stooges’ James Williamson and Radio Birdman’s Deniz Tek, who was originally from the same city as the Stooges, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The album comprises 11 brand new tracks penned by the legendary duo. With Williamson of course handling guitar duties and Tek on guitar, vocals and harmonica, they are joined on the album by a very solid band of Michael Scanland on bass, Michael Urbano on drums and Nicholas Stein on keyboards. The Stooges did of course pre-date Radio Birdman by a few years, and were clearly an influence, along with the MC5 and Blue Oyster Cult amongst others, so it must be a thrill for Deniz Tek to team up with another Stooge, after collaborating with Ron Asheton many years ago on the excellent New Race project.
One thing that strikes you upon listening to this album is that Williamson has lost none of his ability to come up with a great riff, with the powerful opener ‘Jet Pack Nightmare’ being a prime example, and ‘Stable’ and ‘Climate Change’ boasting particularly Stooges-esque riffs. Whilst the likes of ‘Progress’ and ‘Birthday Present’ pack an up tempo, powerful punch, there’s room for a more laid back approach on ‘Take A Look Around’ and ‘Small Change’, whilst the totally rocking ‘Liar’ has a guitar hook that bears more than a passing resemblance to the Only Ones’ ‘Another Girl Another Planet’.
‘Two To One’ is an album that with grow on you and get under your skin after a few listens, it’s well played, well produced (by Williamson) and well written. It’s not ‘Raw Power’ or ‘Radios Appear’, but it would be completely unreasonable to expect that. It is a solid, very good album that will not disappoint fans of either of these legendary individuals and their former bands. The album is available as a digipak CD and on red, blue, yellow or classic black vinyl. The CD and vinyl versions each have unique cover designs too, so take your pick!
- ‘Two To One’ is out now. You can get your copy HERE.
www.facebook.com/DenizTekOfficial
- All content © Über Rock. Not to be reproduced in part or in whole without the express written permission of Über Rock.