I was born close to 1980, so I missed the wave of music and culture that swept the ‘70s. But even kids these day, know about “flower power” and “long hair” singing about “sweet summertime” and “a golden dreamland, mountain high.” Those are some phrases (as well as “monkey see, monkey do,” which made me laugh and think about the politics of the time,) that are on The Heavy Heavy’s latest ‘70s rock-reminiscent album, One Of A Kind.

As good art is wont to do, it opened me up to think about the power of that generation and the phrases, now cliches, that dominated the landscape. That, along with the powerful male-female vocal harmonies, the driving rhythms and angular guitars, the music that has all but been relegated to the annals of history. Well, The Heavy Heavy are one of the bands, like The Lemon Twigs, that are bringing it all back. And perhaps there’s never a bad time for “peace, love, and understanding,” and a song that makes your hair stand on end and long for the golden love of summertime.

Their latest album is one ’70s banger after another, each of the songs something that you could pick with a metal claw out of the claw machine, and pick out a nostalgic plush tie-dye teddy bear straight out of that generation. They’re sweeping the world, with their live show, and you can imagine the dawning of the Age of Aquarius (my astrological sign) all over again. It’s a good look, really. And a great sound.

There are more laid back, acoustic numbers, like “Lovestruck,” that recall the folkier numbers of the time, fit with the train’s refrain, “Beep beep”. There are funky numbers galore, sunny tunes, the ’70s spirit, at every turn. “I was living like the thunder and pounding rain / I gotta get back on my feet again,” they sing-song on the song “Happiness.” Their songs recall a time when just the term “happiness” was a fully-loaded, political term, sung in the face of unjust wars and corporate greed: remind you of anything at all?

It’s “freedom rock,” as the old cliche term speaks about. It makes you feel good. It sings our pain, sure, (“Wild emotion, wild emotion done me wrong.”) But it lifts your soul in the process, surrounds you with a golden glow, invigorates the soul, with images of gardens and beaches, pony tails and white birds. The saying goes, if you’re gonna do it, do it right. And The Heavy Heavy certainly do it right. If you want a throwback record, with all the power of yesteryear, and a revival of sorts, check this dynamic record out.

Order One Of A Kind HERE