Alberta Cross - Broken Side of Time
by Jon Rogers
published: 30 / 9 / 2009

Label:
Ark Recordings
Format: CD
intro
Polished, but unimaginative Southern rock on debut full-length album from New York act Alberta Cross, who have their eye focused on mainstream succes
Now where have I heard this before? Hirsuite males play stadium tinged hippie folk rock – when not strumming a “gee-tar” and smoking one of those, ahem, handmade cigarettes, but also like to get loud and “cray-zee” every now and again. And pretend they all were brought up in the outbacks of Alabama where ‘Freebird’ played constantly on the radio. Admittedly Alberta Cross’ debut album ‘Broken Side of Time’ owes much to Kings of Leon. Fortunately they haven’t done anything as silly as ‘Sex on Fire’. And almost every single Southern-styled (even though most of the band aren’t even American) folk rock band that ever existed from groups like the Band through Crosby, Stills and Nash (and Young) to the Raconteurs. And why do all these bands have tales to tell about how their “woman” done them wrong, or, in fact, how they’ve done their “woman” wrong... Possibly because you kept referring to them with the derogatory term “woman” might have something to do with it. But Alberta Cross do bring something a little different to the rather over-mined genre. Things here are a painted in a darker hue than usual as with the title track and ‘Rise from the Shadows’. Apparently guitarist and vocalist Petter Ericson Stakee and the band had been listening to the bedroom balladeers Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen during the recording of the album and some of that has rubbed off. But we’re not talking shades of jet black like the Swans, Joy Division or Big Star’s ‘Holocaust’ but more a bit of murky grey. Elsewhere it’s a healthy dose of grandiose stadium rock. Stakee let’s it all out on ‘The Thief and The Heartbreaker’ (with added shades of Led Zeppelin). The listener gets a burst of ‘emotional’ singing as well as bursts of big chords and flashy guitars. Clearly Alberta Cross have their eye on the prize from the start (not necessarily a bad thing). Mostly though it’s a steady, workman-like performance with carefully created rousing songs. While it may be perfectly all acceptable its hardly impressive, original stuff either. Clearly Alberta Cross so desperately want to be part of the mainstream rock establishment – and I don’t want to stand in their way if that’s what they want – but while ‘Broken Side of Time’ may be fine as an opening mission statement the band will have to pull off something rather more self-assured and impressive than this.
Track Listing:-
1 Song Three Blues2 ATX
3 Taking Control
4 Old Man Chicago
5 Broken Side Of Time
6 Rise From The Shadows
7 City Walls
8 The Thief & The Heartbreaker
9 Leave Us And Forgive Us
10 Ghost Of City Life
digital downloads
most viewed articles
current edition
Cornbury Music Festival - Great Tew Park, Oxfordshire, 8/7/2022...10/7/2022 -The Final GoodbyeBathers - (With Cowboy Mouth and Sugartown), Strathaven Hotel, Strathavan, 17/6/2022
Felix Cavaliere - From Pelham, NY to Rock n Roll Hall of Fame
NIck Godfrey - Interview
Prolapse - Peel Sessions 20.08.94 and 08.04.97
Queen and Adam Lambert - O2 Arena, London, 20/6/2022
Dorothy Bird - Jimmy's, Liverpool, 30/6/2022
Andy Ellison - Interview
Dwina Gibb - Interview
Silent Running - Interview
most viewed reviews
current edition
Hurrah! - David Jensen 08.12.82Moon Under Water - Fragments EP
Paolo Nutini - Last Night in the Bittersweet
Marine Research - John Peel 18.05.99
Brooks Williams and Aaron Catlow - Ready for the Times
Burning Hell - Garbage Island
Dave Edwards - Many Rivers
Jessie Buckley and Bernard Butler - For All Our Days That Tear The Heart
Jeff Beck and Johnny Depp - 18
Blue Orchids - Angus Tempus Memoir
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart