Best Of Us, Worst Of Us, All Of Us. Tim McCoy

Tim McCoy debuted on this blog late last year with the single First Of June. Backed with Hey Mae, I wondered whether all songs would have a (reference to a) month in title, but no. What has remained the same, is that McCoy is rocking out, full stop.

Best Of Us, Worst Of Us, All Of Us is Tim McCoy's debut solo album. As bass player he is active for years. For me, Watts is the name of a great band he also plays in. Behind frontman Dan Kopko he is in a more serving role. (In that sense this is not his debut on WoNoBlog.) Here is THE man and enjoying it for the whole of the way and so can we, listeners.

Tim McCoy serves us a set of modern rock and roll songs. With a nod to the past and two feet strongly in the present where the energy and sound is concerned. Musically, the album spans several decades. A little punkrock from the 70s, alternative rock from the 80s and 90s are translated into songs that fit the Rum Bar mould of the past 10 years.

Best Of Us, Worst Of Us, All Of Us is an album containing tight drumming, a very present bass guitar and rocking guitars. Here and there a keyboard may pop up as a little adornment of the rocking sound. Over it all Tim McCoy sings with a rough, well-roadworn voice.

The songs individually do not reach the level of any The Rolling Stones song but all are just as honest and certainly credible. In the record process that took several years, McCoy and co-producers Duncan Watt and Richard Habib, who also play on all the songs, went for a good and honest rock sound and came out trumps.

Just listen how the album opens. 'If It's Not A Sinking Vessel, It's A Leak' is a straightforward rocker, with a great rock and roll piano part and runaway guitar outro. 'Runway Scars' starts next with a blistering guitar intro, followed by an impressive bass and the call-answer vocals. The listener's ears must have been pricked seriously up by then. The only remaining option is that this particular listener is deaf.

Not all songs remain at this level of intensity, it is the standard that Tim McCoy has set for himself. He succeeds for three questers of the album to really rock out and exhilarate the listeners. As a warning, be patient with those ballads. Seeing a liveshow unfortunately is not an option from where I live but what would I love to be at a one.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order Best Of Us, Worst Of Us, All Of Us here:

https://rumbarrecords.bandcamp.com/album/best-of-us-worst-of-us-all-of-us