Rooster

ROOSTER
"CIRCLES AND SATELLITES"
(Brightside, 2006)


"I Come Alive"


UK band Rooster were off to a promising start in 2005, with their self-titled debut album reaching Number 3 on the UK chart, having already had their first two singles climb into the Top Ten. Their gritty, muscly rock sound, inspired by '70s bands like Cream and Led Zeppelin, combined with the throaty growl of lead vocalist Nick Atkinson, was poised to overtake the more polished, teen-friendly pop-rock of bands like Busted and the then up-and-coming McFly.

But then, "Home", the lead-off single of their sophomore album, failed to grab the listeners' attention and peaked at a disappointing #33. Rather than releasing the album on schedule, the label postponed it for several weeks, which might have contributed to its lackluster sales. (Hey, if a debut album was as good as Rooster's, wouldn't you have been eager to pick up their next one? I sure was.) In my opinion, "Home" was a poor choice for first single, 'cause there are plenty of more exciting tracks on this gem of an album.

From the frenetic rockers like "I Come Alive" and "Unexpectedly", to the foot-stomping energy of "Get Up" and "So Long", to the tender balladry of "Everything Moves So Fast" and "Clear Skies", to the heavy funk of "Halo", there's just as much to like on this album as there was on their debut -- if not more. The Japanese version, released first, contains one bonus track not included on the UK version, which didn't appear until a few months later.

This is yet another case study in my continuing argument that the major-label industry is ridiculously impatient with their artists when it comes to putting out hit records -- the artist seems to get treated that much better or that much worse, depending on whatever their chart position is at the time. (Debut albums by artists like Bruce Springsteen and Huey Lewis & The News performed rather poorly, and it took them awhile to become the successful artists that they eventually did ... a chance that they would never have been given if they were starting out now instead of 20 to 30 years ago.) Rooster broke up in January of 2007, and I have to wonder if it was a result of their treatment by their label. Alas, we may never know ... and we'll also never know what a fantastic third album from them might have sounded like.