By JAY ROBERTS

The Cassette Chronicles is a continuing series of mini reviews and reflections on albums from the 1980’s and 1990’s. The aim of this series is to highlight both known and underappreciated albums from rock, pop and metal genres from this time period through the cassette editions of their releases. Some of the albums I have known about and loved for years, while others are new to me and were music I’ve always wanted to hear. There will be some review analysis and my own personal stories about my connection with various albums. These opinions are strictly my own and do not reflect the views of anyone else at Limelight Magazine.

JUNKYARD – SIXES, SEVENS & NINES (1991)

After discovering just how good the self-titled debut Junkyard album really was a couple months back, I figured I didn’t want to wait too long before hearing what their second album had to offer me as well.

If I was expecting Junkyard to sort of ease into things I was quickly disabused of that notion. The album’s opening cut “Back on the Streets” has a killer pacing to start off the song and that is melded together with a catchy hook filled delivery as the band seemingly goes for broke right from the get-go.

The next song up is “All The Time in the World” and while the song isn’t delivered in quite the same breakneck speed style, there is still an extremely quick moving tempo here. And the song’s chorus really grabs you. The guitar solo on the song is fantastic and singer David Roach continues to surprise the hell out of me. (All that time not hearing the Junkyard albums is really biting me in the butt once again!)

While there is always a bluesy type of feel to Junkyard’s brand of hard rock, the song “Give The Devil His Due” brings that swinging rhythmic blues-driven feel more to the forefront of the song. I could feel my foot start bouncing in rhythmic time to the music and I love when a song can make this totally lacking in any kind of rhythm guy feel like I could somehow move in time to the music.

“Slippin’ Away” (not to be confused with the Dokken song of the same or at least similar name) is much slower at the start. Not quite a ballad delivery, but it has that kind of storytelling country music vibe even with the harder rock edge coming in here and there throughout the song. The lyrical content is excellent. I know that I usually prefer the more rocking type of song but this track was just flat out superb. You can wrap yourself up in the music as the song transports you into the world it creates with each note and lyric line.

The first side of the album comes to a close with the full bore rocker “Nowhere To Go But Down”. The music hits you square out of the gate and then Roach’s vocals hit you all over again! It is yet another song that will grab ahold of you and not let go until the final note. The lyrical content makes it seem like Roach and/or the band is admonishing some repeated ne’er do well or something. Just a damn entertaining track.

As for the second side of Sixes, Sevens & Nines, the song “Misery Loves Company” kicks things off in an interesting fashion. You’ve got a hard rocking soundtrack that is deepened by the inclusion of a piano track that makes everything else sound that much more lively. According to the liner notes on the cassette, the piano (and Hammond organ) is played by musician Kevin Savigar. His playing gives this song a great little boogie-woogie sound to it. Incredible to say the least!

The piano goes away for the song “Throw It All Away”. That track has pretty much all sharp edges to it. At first I thought there was kind of sneer in how the vocals came across but that ended up being a figment of my imagination. Instead, Junkyard just bulldozes through the song giving listeners yet another song that will let them raise their fists and yell.

There’s a more deliberate delivery on the song “Killing Time”. It’s nearly seven minutes long and the kind of swamp rock music vibe rolls over you like a slow moving river. As the song heads into the chorus, the music does get a bit more of a jolt which gives the song an added edge but it works just about as perfectly as you could hope for.

The slightly country sounding tinge returns in the beginning of the song “Clean The Dirt”. It’s a rather spare musical soundtrack to start the song off with the guitar and vocals pretty much alone in the forefront, the drums come in a bit later and at first they are almost muted (or pushed way down in the mix), but then the band comes in full for the song’s chorus before going back to the slower delivery. That tempo switch continues throughout the song and makes for a very interesting track to listen to.

The album ending track “Lost in the City” has its foot on the gas from the first note of the song. It aims for straight between your eyes and finds the mark easily enough. Just a resoundingly uptempo way to end the album. It plays almost as a final victory lap in my head because it finishes off a rather superb album that has just rocked me back on my heels with just how good it is.

One thing I can definitely say after hearing the two Junkyard albums is that the next time they are in my area (or at least close enough that I can drive there and back), I’m going to have to go see them live. The studio material is just incredible and now I have a serious hankering to see how it translates live. Sixes, Sevens & Nines once again confirms that I’ve done myself a great disservice to have waited so long to get into Junkyard and that I now have a lot of catching up to do!

NOTES OF INTEREST: Guitarist Chris Gates and singer David Roach co-wrote each of the tracks. There were only two other co-writing credits with one of those being Steve Earle. He co-wrote (and sang backing vocals on) the song “Slippin’ Away” with Gates and Roach. He also added background vocals on the songs “Misery Loves Company” and “All The Time in the World”.

Bassist Clay Anthony left the band just before the Sixes, Sevens & Nines album was released. He passed away in 2020.