Howlin Rain’s Live The Sidecar Barcelona Spain 111208 – A Raw, Soul-Stirring Ride Through Rock and Blues
Man, if you’re a sucker for raw live recordings that feel like they’re happening right in front of you, Howlin Rain’s Live The Sidecar Barcelona Spain 111208 is gonna hit all the right notes. Released back in 2009 under Silver Currant (a label that clearly knows its stuff), this album captures the band at their unfiltered best—Classic Rock meets Blues Rock with enough grit to make your speakers sweat.
Let me just say, this ain’t one of those polished studio albums where everything sounds perfect but kinda… lifeless? Nah, this record feels alive. Like, “I can practically smell the beer-soaked floors” alive. Recorded in Barcelona, it’s got that electric vibe that only comes from playing to a crowd who’s completely losing their minds. And honestly? It shows.
Now, I gotta shout out two tracks here because these are the ones that stuck in my head long after the music stopped. First up: "Roll On The Rusted Days." Oh man, this song hits hard. It starts off slow, almost mournful, like a guy sitting on a porch somewhere thinking about all the mistakes he didn’t even know he made yet. But then—WHAM—it kicks into gear, and suddenly you’re not just listening anymore; you’re feeling it. Ethan Miller’s vocals have this raspy desperation to them, like he’s begging you to understand something he can’t quite put into words. By the end, my heart was pounding so hard I had to check if I’d accidentally started running laps around my living room.
Then there’s "Keep Me Hangin On," which might as well be renamed “The Anthem for When Life Feels Like Too Much.” This track has this swagger to it—a kind of loose, don’t-give-a-damn attitude that makes you wanna grab a guitar yourself (even if you don’t know how to play one). The rhythm section just grooves so damn well, and when the harmonica kicks in halfway through? Forget it. You’re gone. Totally transported to some smoky dive bar where everyone’s dancing like nobody’s watching.
What really gets me about this album is how real it feels. There’s no overproduced nonsense trying to cover up imperfections. Every crackle, every cheer from the audience, every little stumble—it’s all part of the experience. That’s what makes it special. It’s messy, sure, but isn’t that what rock ‘n’ roll is supposed to be? Messy, loud, unpredictable?
And hey, here’s the kicker: while most live albums try too hard to prove how awesome the band is, Live The Sidecar doesn’t need to try. It just is. Listening to it feels less like hearing a performance and more like stumbling across an old friend who still remembers your name after years apart.
So yeah, give this one a spin if you want something that’ll shake off the cobwebs and remind you why you fell in love with rock music in the first place. Just don’t blame me if you find yourself booking tickets to Barcelona afterward.
