Rose Hill Drive – ‘Showdown’ (Megaforce) Released 26/02/07

There is little more frustrating than a great live band who, on record, amount to little more than a watered-down, overproduced damp squib. Luckily ‘Showdown’ doesn’t quite fit that description, being a catchy little piece of blues-rock with traces of AC/DC, a healthy splattering of Led Zep, and not a bit of Wolfmother, honest.

Passable certainly, but head straight to the live version on the B-side instead. Clocking in at very nearly double the length of the sanitised single edit, it captures a band with a genuine primal energy. The slightly twangy guitars are replaced by crunching riffs, the vocals are clean but impassioned and they top it all off with a minute-long solo and a RAWK drum outro, marvellous. Now if only they did that in the studio.