GUN – Favourite Pleasures [Deluxe Edition +4] (2017)

Ever since they reunited nearly a decade ago, GUN have been threatening to break out with an album packed with hits from stem to stern. Well, now they’ve done it. Their latest, “Favourite Pleasures“. to be released September 15, is the kind of record that makes you smile and lose the plot.
It has the effortless enthusiasm of kids appreciating the power of music for the first time, combined with the experience of musicians who know – just know – how to write a Rock song that comes from the soul.

Everywhere you look on this album you’re smacked by a seriously strong track.
“She Knows” punches you in the face by way of a hello, and in so doing sounds more urgent and effervescent than anything they’ve managed in years. There’s a bit of a funkiness to the cheeky title track, plenty of groove as well.

But my favorite from the album is the killer “Here’s Where I Am”, an unashamed a glam rock stomper as you can get and is surely made for the live arena. If those are the first three out of the way and all so far so good then, there is always the worry about whether it can be sustained over a full album.
No such concerns here as “Take Me Down” sees Jools Gizzi cut loose on a solo that could have come straight from the ’80s as if to say “yeah, its all good this time.”

There is little doubt that the presence of new guitarist Tommy Gentry has breathed new life into the band – put simply they haven’t sounded as gleeful as they do on “Silent Lovers” in years.
And if “Black Heart” with its strident groove is a little heavier, then it is still brilliantly well placed.
“Without You In My Life” is midtempo but builds itself up nicely – never turning into the huge ballad you almost expected. It’s not that kind of album.

“Tragic Heroes” is a real highlight too, capturing the essence of what we might call the mid-paced Gun sound, and the line about “don’t trust a man who says he’ll make you rich, before you know it, you’ll have nothing to show for it…” just might be more heartfelt than most.

An album that is full of three-minute rocking songs has one that literally is. “Go To Hell” is 180 seconds of an angry screecher of a thing that shows the fire still burns, but oddly amongst all the bluster it is the piano based closer that really re-affirms just how good they are here.
“Boy Who Fooled The World” reveals a more personal side to the band than you might expect and casts frontman Dante Gizzi as a kid listening to the radio on a Friday night and it will strike a chord with anyone who sat there with their “fingers on play and record…listening for the next big thing.”

This Deluxe Edition includes 4 juicy bonus tracks.
Their version of “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)” kills with a great solo, while ‘Silent Lovers’ is ripped straight from the heart of the early ’90s with its contagious midtempo melody.

An album that wants to be catchy and have big old hooks you could hang things on, “Favourite Pleasures” is exactly what you want from Gun, the real, early Gun. As a result, arguably for the first time in 23 years we’ve got a great Gun album.
This new record easily stands up with the likes of ‘Taking On The World’ and ‘Swagger’. Give it a listen and it could quickly become one of your Favourite Pleasures as well.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

01 – She Knows
02 – Here’s Where I Am
03 – Favourite Pleasures
04 – Take Me Down
05 – Silent Lovers
06 – Black Heart
07 – Without You In My Life
08 – Tragic Heroes
09 – Go To Hell
10 – Boy Who Fooled The World
BONUS TRACKS:
11 – (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)
12 – 20 Storeys
13 – Come Undone
14 – All I Really Need

Dante Gizzi – Vocals
Jools Gizzi – Guitar
Tommy Gentry – Guitar
Andy Carr – Bass
Paul McManus – Drums

Pre Order:
www.amazon.co.uk/Favourite-Pleasures-Gun/dp/B072KJPVZN
.