Over the years John Cafferty has had some recognisable hits, such as Hearts On Fire, Voice Of America’s Sons, and C-I-T-Y, but in listening to Roadhouse, Bruce Springsteen is constantly on my mind as John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band have an uncanny similarity to the rock legend and the E Street Band. While it may be easy to ignore Roadhouse, as a result, doing so would be of detriment for there are some excellent tunes to be heard on this heartland rock album.
Released in 1988, Roadhouse failed to chart and reach the heights of their previous album, Tough All Over, but rightly maintained a cult following of dedicated fans. While physical releases of Roadhouse are long out-of-print, the lossless Apple Music stream will likely fill the void for many music lovers. The reproduction is most certainly what one would expect from the era the album was recorded in. It isn’t brick walled, as the album, to my knowledge, has never been remastered and subsequently you’ll experience a solid soundstage with a clear separation between all players. The mastering itself is a little thin but not distractingly so. Certainly, a small boost in bass and a slight reduction in the treble would address that element. Naturally, your preferences may vary but I tend to lean towards a warmer sound signature.
Bound For Glory sets the tone for the entire album with a blues-based rock tune that will get you moving. Bound For Glory’s groove is infectious and that bass track, thanks to Patrick Lupo, is the driving force behind the song. Bottom line: it’s a rocking tune!
Victory Dance is a little loose and is more Caribbean than you may expect following Bound For Glory. Victory Dance is one of those songs that will grow on you. It’s catchy and a little cringeworthy. You may even find yourself turning the volume down, ensuring that no one else hears you play it, for it becomes a guilty pleasure, but that sax solo is a redeeming aspect that ensures I look forward to the song every time I play Roadhouse.
Song & Dance sounds so close to Springsteen that you’d be forgiven thinking that it was his song. That said, Song & Dance is magnificent and is on par with Springsteen’s greatest output. Although, it’s a shame that it has never received the recognition it deserved for if Springsteen had recorded it, it would have been a chart-topping hit.
Killin’ Time has an introduction that reminds me not only of Springsteen but U2 before blasting into the core of the song. It’s a nice build-up and Killin’ Time follows Song & Dance perfectly and offers further validation that had Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band received more recognition, Killin’ Time would have been a success on the level of those aforementioned great artists. Another exceptional rock tune, yes, but I’m not fond of the abrupt ending.
Wheel Of Fortune is heartland rock gold. It has a little bit of everything and nothing that you don’t need. Perfect is perhaps too strong a word, but it’s textbook solid.
Burn The Roadhouse Down is country pop and won’t be to everyone’s tastes, especially considering it reminds me of Shania Twain. Yes, Roadhouse predated Twain’s sound, but it’s a correlation nonetheless. Burn The Roadhouse Down is on par with Victory Dance; a solid addition to the album that fans will likely appreciate but a song few will seek out.
Penetration has a guitar tuned introduction that reminds me of Dire Straits’. Again, Cafferty’s vocal is too similar to Springsteen’s but the more you listen to him, the more you’ll notice the subtle differences that separate the artists. Despite artist correlations, Penetration is a great song.
Wishing Well is a solid album tune, but where I loved Lupo’s bass track on Bound For Glory I find it too loose, and subsequently distracting, on Wishing Well.
Customary Thing is groove-filled and will get your body moving involuntarily. While it isn’t the strongest song, it still works well amongst this collection of tunes. It also reminds me of another song but I can’t put my finger on which one; perhaps you know, dear reader?
Hard Way To Go has a killer drum track and as with Customary Thing, Hard Way To Go isn’t forging new ground. It’s album filler, but sometimes when filler merges into a greater body of work, it’s an incredible addition for we’ve all come across albums with a couple of awesome songs and the rest are largely forgettable. Roadhouse doesn’t fall under that category because it is a sum of its parts rather than an album backing up a couple of singles.
Higher Ground is a sonic bliss having been mixed and recorded perfectly. By all rights, it should have been a massive hit as it’s anthemic. Higher Ground is most certainly one of the best songs on Roadhouse and in my opinion, is a candidate for Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band’s greatest song and should have been not only the title track but the closing song. Magnificent!
Road I’m Runnin’ is a great rock closer, with some killer guitar licks, but it’s no Higher Ground. It’s catchy and encourages me to listen to the album again and that, dear reader, is sometimes all that is required of a closing track.
Overall, an interesting thing happens when you listen to John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band, on repeat, you become more entranced with Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band and forget the similarities to Springsteen. At that moment, the music takes on a life of its own and becomes a thoroughly enjoyable musical experience in its own right. Therefore, I implore you to put Roadhouse on repeat, perhaps in the background, and wait until that moment when you’re no longer comparing but appreciating what can only be described as a killer underrated rock album.