Big Talk - Straight in No Kissin'

Big Talk

Straight in No Kissin'

2015

There really is not a lot of room in popular music for some classic rock throwbacks. You are allowed to reference but rarely allowed to go all in. The Darkness and now Big Talk seem to think that is a bunch of BS and want to bring back the best of the late 70's. From the title alone Straight in No Kissin' you know that you are in for something quite different than what you hear everyday. What you don't expect is that despite the tongue in cheek nature of the music there are some really great elements including more than a few nods to Bruce Springsteen and those classic American rock sounds. Big Talk is the brain child of Ronnie Vannucii of The Killers fame and this record is the second of this project. Coming out around the same time as Brandon Flowers' is a bold choice but the two albums could not be further from each other. Big Talk is about big sounds and cruising while Flowers focuses more on the sentimental. Big Talk is masculine and raw, Flowers is flowery and overblown. Vannucci actually references Warren Zevon on "Animal Husband" which the album actually sounds a great deal like. 

If you are tired of computers and synths Straight in No Kissin' is for you. It is a throwback but not in a dated way, the music still holds up despite it's clear tie to the classic rock days. While listening it's not unthinkable that in the hands of The Killers these tracks would really be something special, not that they aren't on their own. The sense of fun is palpable on this record, these are a group of guys really enjoying what they are doing and that uplifts the music where otherwise it may drag or feel bogged down by it's historical nature. The pace is really great on this record as well grabbing a hold of you and taking you on a ride and never letting you take a break. It is great for a fun album like this to hit quickly then move away rather than hand on trying to squeeze every last drop out of the time they have. This album is really fun so the most apt way to wrap it up is to say: For a good time listen to Straight in No Kissin'.

7.9 out of 10