Plastic Section’s name mightn’t tell you where they’re coming from but it’s obvious when you slip “Trouble Is Our Business” into the CD player and hit Go. Wrapped in reverb and draped in delay, it’s a throwback to raw and simple musical times when auto-tune was something you might do to a car one day in the future and Jay-Zee was still just an itch in his father’s pants.
There’s nothing new in rock and roll and the maxim applies to “Trouble Is Our Business”. When it’s done as well as this, it doesn’t much matter. From the strutting instro “Blue City Stroll” to the swaggering title tune and the stuttering “Yeah Yeah”, it’s an enjoyable if unexacting romp. If you want pomp rock, download that Queen movie on Netflix. Be warned. No good ever came from a biopic.
For an ex-sludge rocker whose band Kemosabe recorded an (unreleased) album with Jerry Teel and Tim Kerr producing in the USA, Ben Edwards sure has a deft touch on six strings. His Melbourne band is pretty adept with bassist Pip and drummer Matthew Barker keeping it simple and effective.
There are lyrical illusions to voodoo and girls, of course. Graveyards and beer get honourable mentions. It’s not deep or philosophical. It’s rock and roll - it pure form. The uncomplicated production is just right.