Rose Tattoo have long been one of my favourite Australian rock bands.  With all of the tattoos, they always looked far more dangerous than any other rock band that I grew up with – I remember looking at the Scarred For Life album cover, and just thinking they looked like badasses!

Maybe that album cover is why I grew up to have just as many tats as The Tats!

Now, I have to admit that I was a little wary about this albums release.  It’s not an album of new material (with the exception of Snow Queen, Rosetta and Sweet Love, which had only been demoed previously), it is effectively a re-recording of Rose Tattoos 1978 debut record.

The band cleverly shuffles around the track order, which gives it a touch of freshness, plus the fact that these are all tracks that we know so well made it easy to engage with straight away.  Even if they all have a fresh coat of paint.

It’s safe to say that my initial wariness was pretty quickly washed away.  I would love the current line up consisting of Angry Anderson on vocals, Mark Evans on bass, Jackie Barnes on drums, Bob Spencer on guitars, and Dai Pritchard on slide guitar, to record an album of completely new material, but re-recording a classic might just be the perfect way to introduce this current star studded line up back in to the public eye.

With all due respect to all previous line ups of the band, this is the best they have sounded in years, both on record and in the live setting.  They sound extremely vibrant, and somehow new – a fantastic result for a band with over 40 years of history.

If you are unfamiliar with Rose Tattoo (have you been living under a rock!?) you could easily start here, and work your way backwards through the discography.  And you should as soon as possible.

“TFFT”

10/10

Shayne McGowan.