Robert Jon & The Wreck - 'Heartbreaks & Last Goodbyes'

Rock Metal Machine
3 days ago
2 min read

If there was an award for the hardest working band in the world then Robert Jon & The Wreck would win it hands down.

Five men stand in a desert landscape at sunset. They wear casual Western attire. Text reads "Robert Jon & The Wreck: Heartbreaks & Last Goodbyes."

If you like your favourite bands to develop and evolve, to write about real life experiences, tour often and hard and produce a blend of Blues, Southern Rock with incredible talent, then stop right now. This is exactly where you need to be.

If there was an award for the hardest working band in the world then Robert Jon & The Wreck would win it hands down. Their ninth studio release follows from the critically acclaimed ‘Red Moon Rising’. There is a significant change this time around though, instead of recording songs one by one, they lived-in at Brent Cobb’s Savannah studio and polished songs they had written on the road and at rehearsals. Nine- time Grammy winner Cobb has sprinkled his magic dust on the band and boy does it ever show.

Hailing from Los Angeles, Robert Jon Burrison (lead vocals, guitar), Warren Murrel (bass), Henry James Schneekluth (lead guitar), Andrew Espantman (drums), and Jake Abernathie (keyboards) are Wreckin’ audiences all over Europe, the UK and America on a regular frequency.

The ten songs provide a real autobiographical smorgasbord of the band members’ lives, there is something to please everyone on this album. Please listen to the emotional depth of the lyrics, they are spectacular. Schneekluth’s guitar solos are blistering throughout, with Abernathie’s ivory tinkling often leading the way. The backbone of any band is the drums and bass; every song is driven by this fantastic section.

‘Sittin’ Pretty’ is a balls out rocker with catchy hooks. Their gentler side comes out on ‘Ashes In The Dust’ and ‘Long Gone’, both co-written with John Oates. If one song sums up the whole opus it is ‘Highway’, this gives me goosebumps on every listen, the guitar harmonies are simply sublime. Burrison’s singing can only be compared with a very fine malt, smooth and yet full-bodied. They close out with ‘Keep Myself Clean’, watch out for the melody it will hook you right in.

Murrel said “We got to immerse ourselves fully in the music, writing, recording, and refining songs every day for over a week. It was an experience that allowed us to be completely present in the creative process. Dave Cobb has a way of getting under the hood of a song, pushing it further than we ever thought possible.” Standby as this is their Magnus Opus…yes, their best album so far.

Reviewer: Ken Roberts

Label: Journeyman

Genre: Hard Rock

Issue Reviewed In: 111

Rate This Album