THE RUDIMENTS - DOCTOR BONE'S FRIED MEDICINE

Hmm, what to make of The Rudiments? On the basis of this rather brief album (7 songs, 22 minutes), they make a pleasant, enough noise, clearly influenced by Sixties bands, with an acoustic, country-tinged blues-rock sound that at its best is pretty impressive, but which is far too inconsistent in quality.

If there’s a problem with the album, it’s that it has too much of a slow build – the opening three tracks are fairly nondescript, and on an album of this brevity, that’s not a luxury that can be afforded. Things (perhaps appropriately) pick up with Start to Roll, where the band do exactly that, with a funky, bluesy stomper that would’ve been a good opening point for proceedings. With wailing harmonica and pumping bass and guitars, it’s several notches up from what has come before. Whisky from a Bowl continues the foot-tapping tunes with a country folk flavour, while Tetley Tea (Set You Free) has a steel guitar twang that seems made for festival crowd-pleasing, but lacks the quality of the two previous tracks. The album closes with a more chilled-out, acoustic Led Zeppelin inspired ditty that again is pleasant without being overly memorable.

On the basis of this, The Rudiments deserve watching – if they tighten up their song craft, they could be excellent.

LES DE MONZE

BUY IT NOW (MP3)