Road Apples - No Turning Back

Hear The Track Here

Last track for review this month from Soundclick is a particular favourite of mine, Road Apples. Of course you have have come across him as A Cry of Hounds, Sad Hill Cemetery, Shaketown Breakdown or even Ska Rapples, all are known to be Road Apple aliases. Sowing confusion, of course, isn't the only thing he is good at, he's a pretty dab hand at turning in a good tune too. Although the last thing I reviewed was a collaborative effort with another Soundclick veteran, Alchemystic, the last actual Road Apples track I reviewed was The Weak and The Wild (June 2011), a very nice slice of almost country rock, and rock is usually the underlying flavour in most of his work. Yes, and that's probably why I like him (sigh).

Damn I hate smartasses...

So, in all the time I have known of his work, I know he's explored pretty much every inch of the rock genre except, apparently, blues. Although I could have sworn he did a blues as Ska Rapples unless my memory is fritzing again. Couldn't stand that thought so I went looking and lo Neophyte Blues (August 2010) pops up and a fine piece of blues it was too. As I mentioned at the time, what counts for me with tracks like this is authenticity and Neophyte Blues had that. So, in fact, does No Turning Back although the authenticity is of a different stamp. Where Neophyte was a classic blues in structure and feel, No Turning Back takes its cue from the pop blues of the 1960's. Raw, naked and powerful as a slap in the face.

With the exception of the stereo sound, this could well be an early Yardbirds, not to mention some of the rawer Beatles tracks. Whichever side of the argument you plump for there is no denying that No Turning Back is a) a class song and b) a solid, punchy performance. As someone whose musical life was shaped directly by exposure to the then new, and raw beat sound, the atmosphere of the track said it all. No Turning Back has so many of those qualities I had to check my watch to make sure it wasn't running backwards. Oh yes, you will have heard the like a million times before from lots of bands but that's never stopped it rolling right along, this time in Road Apples capable care.

High class rock blues. MUST HAVE.