Let’s get one thing straight right out of the gate: Tom Minor doesn’t do subtle. The London N1 singer-songwriter’s new single, “Bring Back the Good Ol’ Boys,” screams in your face until you get the message. And what a glorious, raucous, and brilliantly scathing message it is.
Kicking off with a title that sounds like a nostalgic plea, Minor immediately reveals his true, razor-sharp intent. This is a “tongue-in-each-cheek” takedown of our own pathetic willingness to repeat history’s worst mistakes, to fall for the slick promises of snake-oil merchants and authoritarian leaders. The music is the perfect vehicle for this pissed-off sermon. Drawing from a lethal cocktail of indie rock, punk, and garage rock, “Bring Back the Good Ol’ Boys” is all swagger and sneer. It’s the kind of track that feels like it was recorded in a smoke-filled room in Muswell Hill, dripping with the same oomph that powered the best of the ’77 punk scene and the smartest of the new wave.
The mastermind behind this controlled chaos is none other than producer Teaboy Palmer, dubbed the “Shadow Morton of Muswell Hill.” Palmer deserves a medal for capturing the perfect balance of raw power and smart-ass lyricism. Minor is firing on all cylinders, touching “populism,” “opportunism,” and the brilliantly bleak “Black Hole of Calcutta.” He’s looking at the world going to hell in a handbasket and scoring the entire damn parade, and with praise from outlets, it’s clear he’s hitting a nerve.
“Bring Back the Good Ol’ Boys” is the sound of Tom Minor completely in command of his voice, using it not to whisper sweet nothings, but to roar a necessary, uncomfortable truth over a wall of glorious, unapologetic noise. This single is a five-alarm fire in a world full of damp squibs.