Some wheels don’t need to be reinvented. And some bands don’t even bother to try. Instead, they’re happy to stick to what they do best or love best — be it classic rock, vintage pop or old-school grunge. Here are the least forward-looking artists I came across in 2019:
TINNITIST’S PICK
Taylor Hawkins & The Coattail Riders
Get the Money
WHO ARE THEY? The on-again, off-again (but mostly just off) side project led by longtime Foo Fighters drummer (and former Alanis Morissette sideman) Taylor Hawkins, accompanied by his latest crop of solo bandmates and a massive slate of VIPs including fellow Foos Dave Grohl and Pat Smear, Queen drummer Roger Taylor, Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan, The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde, Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell, Yes singer Jon Davison, Heart’s Nancy Wilson, Eagles’ Joe Walsh and even country-popster LeAnn Rimes. Clearly, Hawkins has a lot of friends. Or a lot of money. Perhaps both.
WHAT IS THIS? Just the third Coattail Riders album in 13 years — see what I mean by on-again, off-again? — and, much like its predecessors, a giddy sprint through the many highlights of ’70s-rock fanboy Hawkins’ record collection.
WHAT DOES IT SOUND LIKE? Cheap Trick reimagining the first three Queen albums. Or vice versa. Either way, it’s basically 120 minutes of arena-sized guitar riffs, glammy vocals, pancake-stack harmonies, proggy arrangements and wiesenheimer vocals crammed into 40 minutes of music.
READ THE FULL REVIEW AND HEAR THE ALBUM HERE
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
The Beasts | Still Here
Alice Cooper | Breadcrumbs EP
Down ’n’ Outz | This Is How We Roll
Eagles of Death Metal | Boots Electric Performing The Best Songs We Never Wrote
Gloo | A Pathetic Youth
Iron Kingdom | On The Hunt
Jenny Lewis | On the Line
Little Steven & The Disciples of Soul | Summer of Sorcery
Jeff Lynne’s ELO | From Out Of 
Nowhere
Midland | Let It Roll
Sheer Mag | A Distant Call
Stray Cats | 40
Garry Tallent | More Like Me
Those Pretty Wrongs | Zed For Zulu
Volbeat | Rewind, Replay, Rebound
Weezer | Weezer (The Teal Album)
The Who | Who
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