When you come from Detroit and you play rock n’ roll, or claim to, then you have certain standards you have to reach. Otherwise Alice is coming to get you. The Beggars, thankfully, may both rock and roll, but they have their heads screwed on tight. They’ve been kicking about since 2007 going by their discography, though this is their first collected release in nine years.
Now rock n’ roll is a vast genre and includes acts as diverse as Little Richard, Elvis, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper and Motorhead. The Beggar’s style is quite downplayed and a little grunge-y. It’s music to coast to, to nod to, to kick back to… but with your toe tapping and your head nodding. It’s head-shaking rather than head-banging… until it puts its foot down. “This Part of Town” is the ideal example. For most of its length you just want to wallow in its distorted guitars and steady beats, right up until the final refrain when it absolutely bangs.
“Cry ‘on” is probably my favourite of the half dozen tracks we have here. It’s like Aerosmith and The Vogues got it on around the back of a Wayne Fontana gig. Multiple voices crying out in the chorus, chugging riffs and even a guitar solo. “Ferrari” is driven as you’d expect (although you’d expect Detroit residents to perhaps have picked a different motor brand to write about), “Gee Wiz” is wonderfully silly and full of itself, and there’s even the mandatory ballad with “Set In Your Ways”.
Raw, simple, and fun. The Beggars know what rock n’ roll is about. And it’s only $6 on Bandcamp if you actually want to support them instead of listening on Spotify which just looks at bands, raises its prices and laughs.
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