Arjen Lucassen’s Supersonic Revolution: “Golden Age Of Music” (2023) – Album Review

Summary

A love letter to the classic innovative rock of the early/mid 1970s, Golden Age of Music pays tribute to acts like Sweet, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple, Bowie, T. Rex, Budgie, Rainbow, Queen, and Black Sabbath. Arjen Lucassen and Supersonic Revolution deliver big, loud, larger-than-life epic hard rock that engagingly evokes the highlights of the band’s 1970s rock influences, without giving in to the temptation of directly recreating them.

Album Info

Hot-Take Review

Never lead off anything you write with a cliché, but goddamn if you don’t miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

And I mean, does Arjen Lucassen ever stop shooting? Whether it’s rain or bricks, his music continues flowing with inimitable energy and limitless enthusiasm. I saw an interview with him a few years back where he stressed if he hadn’t chosen music, it would have chosen him. This tracks.

It’s one thing to be prolific, but prolificity means bupkis if the quality isn’t there. As always, your mileage may vary but I’m always more interested in an artist who dreams big and shoots high, even if they don’t always succeed. Give me an ambitious failure over mundane, serviceable formula any day of the week. Twice on Tuesdays because I hate Tuesdays.

For the most part, I’ve pretty much enjoyed the hell out of Ayreon, Star One, and his something like 873 other projects and side gigs. Some more than others, of course, which perhaps might have lent to my trepidation towards Golden Age of Music, his 2023 project with new band Supersonic Revolution.

A love letter to the classic innovative rock of the early/mid 1970s, Golden Age of Music pays tribute to acts such as Sweet, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple, Bowie, T. Rex, Budgie, Rainbow, Queen, Black Sabbath… your garden-variety melodic, prog (or prog-influenced), and heavy rock of the era. Music that was loud, hooky, envelope-pushing, fist-pumping, and anthemic.

Plus Hammond Organs. Lots and lots of Hammond Organs.

Notice though, that I used the word “tribute” and not “homage”. Supersonic Revolution endeavored to capture the vision, color, energy, and sounds of the era, but not try to recreate it. As Lucassen himself put it:

“I was like, let’s form a band and let’s write songs in the style of the 70s, and have the lyrics be a celebration of all the memorable things from that time, because those were my formative years,” he enthuses. “But I didn’t want it to sound like the 70s because that’s already been done, and I can’t do it any better than ‘Stargazer’ or ‘Kashmir’.”

The Master Cylinder, “Supersonic Revolution – Arjen’s new band!”, Arjen Lucassen, arjenlucassen.com/content/supersonic-revolution-arjens-new-band. Accessed 22 May 2023.

So yeah, we’re not talking pastiche, imitation, or nostalgia-driven “hitting all the right notes”. This is new music, albeit heavily influenced from the era, but new nonetheless. Mostly heavy rock with some prog highlights and even with a bit of southern boogie-woogie. You read that right.

Overall, this is just a fun album. Period. I don’t even know how to describe it better than that, really. Golden Age of Music knows exactly what it is: the aforementioned love letter to the bands and sounds of the time, taking the vibe and feel of those songs and making something new, melodic, up-tempo, and assuredly hard-rockin’ with them. Tongue is fully in cheek here; maybe the band isn’t quite winking at the listener but certainly nodding at them with big ol’ smiles on their faces.

I mean, if the album opens with an evocative organ-driven prelude that leads into a song called “The Glamattack”, and eventually closes with a bluesy, Texas-inspired “Came To Mock, Stayed To Rock”, you have to know what’s in store for you. In between you’ve got some epic grandeur in “Odyssey”, some slinky R&B elements to “Holy Holy Ground”, even an attempt to present the other side of the Smoke on the Water flare-gun incident with “Burn It Down”. [Spoiler Alert: what an a-hole!]

Musically, this is a treat, with those big, layered vocal harmonies from Jaycee Cuijpers, keyboardist Joost van den Broek working way overtime all over this record, killer riffs and tasty licks from guitarist Timo Somers, and Koen Herfst locking everything down with his commanding drum work. And of course Lucassen guarding the pocket on bass while taking on his usual writing, engineering, and producing roles.

There are four bonus tracks on some releases of this album, in which the band covers T. Rex’s “Children of the Revolution”, ZZ Top’s “Heard it on the X”, Earth Wind & Fire’s “Fantasy” (!), and Roger Glover’s “Love Is All”. All of them are top notch. Grab them as part of your purchase, if you’re so inclined.

So Golden Age of Music delivers the big, loud, larger-than-life epic hard rock that engagingly evokes the highlights of the band’s 1970s rock influences, without giving in to the temptation of directly recreating them. This isn’t an evolutionary step for Lucassen, but then it never set out to be one. Golden Age of Music is a rock celebration, after all. So don’t be so fussy, drop the needle, pop on them cans, and enjoy the journey.

What similar albums does ChatGPT recommend?

While it behooves me to remind my readers that everything you just read is 100% Mills, let’s ask our friendly neighborhood AI for some similar album recommendations.

These albums are all influenced by the sounds of ’60s and ’70s rock and can offer a modern take on those classic styles to listeners who enjoyed Supersonic Revolution’s “Golden Age of Music”.

1. “Elephant” by The White Stripes (2003): Jack White has always worn his classic rock influences on his sleeve, and “Elephant” is no exception. With its stripped-down, bluesy garage rock, this album draws heavily from the sounds of the ’60s and ’70s.

2. “Lonerism” by Tame Impala (2012): Kevin Parker, the mastermind behind Tame Impala, is heavily influenced by late ’60s and early ’70s psychedelic rock. “Lonerism” is a modern take on those classic sounds, blending them with elements of contemporary indie and electronic music.

3. “Wolfmother” by Wolfmother (2005): This Australian band’s debut album pays homage to classic rock from the ’70s, particularly the hard rock and heavy metal of bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.

4. “Consolers of the Lonely” by The Raconteurs (2008): This supergroup, featuring Jack White of The White Stripes, released this album as a tribute to the sounds of classic rock, incorporating elements of blues, folk, and psychedelic rock.

5. “Down The Way” by Angus & Julia Stone (2010): This brother-sister duo creates a folk and acoustic rock sound that pays homage to the classic rock of the ’70s. While softer than the other recommendations, this album’s emphasis on melody and storytelling aligns with many ’70s rock values.

Output from ChatGPT, OpenAI to Mills, 22 May 2023.