Album Review: Andrew Stockdale - Keep Moving

“Everything I do is wrong/I've been putting up with this too long” sings Andrew Stockdale at the beginning of Vicarious, the fourth track from his debut solo cut Keep Moving. Perhaps he's lamenting the Wolfmother days and the fact he became such a hater magnet. Yeah, Wolfmother were Zeppelin 2.0 (it's one thing to be influenced, it's another entirely to basically recreate), Stockdale copped his fair amount of wrath.

Still, post-Wolfmother, Stockdale's gotta keep moving. Perhaps that's why this effort is named as it is. It's definitely what he's doing, although perhaps not really in a sonic sense. With Keep Moving, Stockdale has rounded up a bunch of likeminded musos and pretty much carried on where he left off with the 'Mother. As such, this record doesn't really offer anything new, it's actually (with the exception of a few choice riffs) quite boring.

To be honest though, this isn't entirely Stockdale's fault. Rock'n'roll is a notoriously hard beast to tame – it's been done, in so many guises, so many times. Is there actually anything new to bring to rock? Perhaps there is, but it's not present here. Keep Moving is a decent enough rock'n'roll record, it channels more Zeppelin, there's definitely some Sabbath influence in there, it chugs along with enough visceral intent to keep it above 'shit', but what Stockdale brings doesn't really raise it past par. In a nutshell, if you want a beer-drinking soundtrack and don't have access to your '70s rock collection, this'll do just fine. If you want something new, or original, go back to where it all came from.