ALBUM REVIEW: DADDY LONG LEGS - Street Sermons
Yep Roc Records
17th March 2023
Daddy Long Legs are a New York based Rock ‘n’ Roll band with influences of punk music too. The band’s goal is to bring topics involving emotion and feeling to the forefront, whilst keeping a steady and catchy musical backbone suitable for the streets. ‘Street Sermons’ is the band’s fourth album, it takes everything we know and love from the previous records and condenses them into one brilliant record.
As with my previous album review, this is also the first time I have ever heard anything from this band personally. Right off the bat, the opening track to the record (being ‘Street Sermons’, the title track) intrigued me. I am a fan of early punk music, one of my favourite bands is Television who also formed in New York - and this song to me seemed to me that they took that proto-punk style and combined it with early foot-stomping blues music which is really interesting, kind of reminds me of The Specials MKII. ‘Nightmare’ throws in more of a danceable groove to the track, definitely has a Rock N Roll sound to it - I would love to listen to this album on cassette, I feel like it would really suit that “LoFi” media very well. ‘Rockin’ My Boogie’ sounds far more sleazy than the previous tracks, fully jumping into that iconic blues rock sound we all know and love. Skipping ahead a few tracks, ‘Star’ takes us to a more mellow and soothing sound. It’s a lovely little ditty and definitely sticks out on an album with numerous groovy rockers on - this little stripped back piece is great. Possibly my favourite track on this album is the closing track ‘Electro-Motive Blues’, it has a very up-tempo rhythm to it that makes you want to nod your head and clap your hands with some blistering guitar! One thing I’ve yet to mention is the Harmonica playing you hear all over this album, it’s done really well and adds an authenticity to the album giving it that classic American rock vibe. It ends the album on a high note for me.
The production overall on this album is done very well, it’s basic but certainly effective. I’m not complaining about it being basic because if it was anything else it just wouldn’t suit the music here. This album isn’t Prog Rock or Psychedelic… It’s bluesy, danceable and fun, it doesn’t need overblown crazy production, it just needs to be a damn good time! This is why I said before I wish I could hear it on cassette because I feel like the rawer, lower quality sound I get when listening to that format would really work for this album more than being slick and clean - which is how it is when listening to it as crisp WAV files through my studio monitors. Maybe that’s just me though, but Daddy Long Legs, if you read this then please try to get that arranged I would definitely be interested personally!
The album art does suit the music found within the record as it certainly does give me vibes of old R’n’R albums you find on 12” in second hand record shops, it has that edge to it that you often lose with many modern album covers that either disregard the music or just try way too hard. This one is perfect for the album. It also gives me 70s Punk rock vibes, which can also be heard every now and then on this album, but it’s more similar to pure Rock ‘N’ Roll albums than the harsh sound of The Ramones and The Clash.
Overall, I definitely recommend Street Sermons by Daddy Long Legs. I love the sound of this album and the energy you will find listening to it. The band are currently touring this album launch so if you can definitely go check them out live, support them directly and have a good time whilst doing it - this music definitely sounds as if it would benefit from the electric vibes of playing live so I would definitely say go see them. The album is available on streaming services, go and check it out if you’re interested!
