Since context is the environment in which something acquires its meaning, it might be useful to share the band’s sketch for this album: “Super 8 is a grainy film. Magic fingers in a cheap hotel. A skip and scratch of a 45 on an old hot RCA Victor. Memory. Lotsa sax. The sound of an AM radio just off the dial on top of a kitchen table 1965. An old Circus magazine in a basement box. The banging of an old soda machine outside of that cheap hotel at 4 a.m. Driving in a car, windows down and singing loud with your friends that summer.” Now press the Play button, and vintage images in technicolor will automatically pass before your eyes.

The Amplifier Heads‘ frontman Sal Baglio has spent decades keeping the rock ‘n’ roll fire burning (you also know the American singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist from The Peppermint Kicks and The Stompers), and Super 8 might be his most affectionate love letter to the genre yet. Across eight hook-packed songs (supplemented with two bonus tracks, of which the “Babylon Mix” of Hot Wax is stretched to a running time of 18 minutes), his band bottles pub rock energy, power pop sparkle, and rhythm & blues swagger, without lapsing into empty nostalgia. Titles like Rock N’ Roll Riot, A Song Called Sha La La, and A Girl Named Chop Suey are telling, but the memorable lyrics and shout-along choruses surpass that, and the blast of sax and guitars even more so. This record is a loud, joyous, and unpretentious rock ‘n’ roll fest, alive as can be.

Super 8—written and produced by Sal Baglio—is out digitally and on CD through Rum Bar Records. Featuring Sal Baglio (vocals, guitars, piano, organ, glockenspiel, bass), Brad Hallen (bass), and Kevin “King” Rapillo (drums, percussion), with Jeff “G-Man” Giacomelli (saxophone), Carlos Menenzes Jr (trombone), Matthew Naeger (trumpet), and Henley Douglas Jr (saxophone) on select tracks.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp