BAD TOUCH – Bittersweet Satisfaction (2023) *HQ*

UK five-pice BAD TOUCH are one of the finest hard rock / classic rock acts from the scene and now near the end of 2023 return with their fifth album ”Bittersweet Satisfaction”.
Produced by the band themselves and recorded at The Marshall Studio engineered by Adam Beer and Ollie Brightman, ”Bittersweet Satisfaction” showcases their good-time rock and roll over 10 brand new tracks. The whole thing was mixed in Wales by Motörhead / Bring Me The Horizon producer Romesh Dodangoda, who has made the drums sound suitably immense.
Always a band who put out a quality record, Bad Touch surpassed their usual high standards with “Bittersweet Satisfaction”, 10 killer tracks with no filler in sight.

Bad Touch hit 13 this year making them Rock and Roll teenagers, and it’s that abandon that comes with a relaxation of the ‘rules’ and that teenage feeling that you can do anything you like that pervades ”Bittersweet Satisfaction”. Saying that it’s also a precise and assured record, brimming with energy, with sharp lyrics and some quite sublime guitars which at times eschew excess for economy and sound all the sharper for it.
Production on this record is impeccable as are the performances of everyone involved.

When you make album number five – a heady mix of the likes of Led Zeppelin, The Black Crowes, and every Hard Rocking Blues based A-Graders since, you perhaps don’t expect it to be breaking and new chains – nut this does.
Opening with ‘Slip Away’ all big riffs and soaring chorus you’re away and rocking right out of the gates and immediately hit by Stevie Westwood’s vocals and the guitars of Rob Glendinning and Daniel ‘Seeks’ Seekings as well as the formidable drive of Michael Bailey (bass) and George Drewry (drums).
It’s a team performance that’s for sure, and this team is firing on all cylinders.

‘This Life’ adds a little more grit and some swelling keys to keep the ball rolling. It’s a bluesier take on the Bad Touch sound with another huge chorus that will have you singing along in no time. It’s just a foreshadowing of what is to come, but this is definitely a record that will have you hoarse from singing along before long.
Then ‘Spend My Days’ is a perfect piece of mid-tempo Rock&pop. It’s another winner.
Title track ‘Bittersweet Satisfaction’ is a glorious mess of everything you love about the band, all colliding in the one track. It’s a huge song that rides a great groove with a killer chorus. It’s magic! And we get all of this before the end of the first half of the record.

‘Nothing Wrong With That’ really brings in that southern harmony, underpinned with keys it soothes and cures those ills, with a massive feelgood chorus. It’s a wonderful instant sing-along that soars and is absolutely made to sing along to.
The moodier ‘Taste This’ is a soulful track that is all about the drums and the dynamic shot of guitars and the funky vocals. A real diamond amongst similarly valuable gems. And when that solo bursts in, the deal is well and truly sealed.

If you were in doubt that the quality could be maintained then ‘side two’ fares just as well as the opening salvo, with ‘Tonight’ doing a similar job to ‘Spend My Days’ and injecting some sig along Pop into proceedings.
Interestingly after 7 songs into a 10 track album we are still to get to hear two favourites. The first ‘Come Back Again’ is a laid back, gentle musing on life, with some great lyrics that had me thinking that immortal Traffic man (almost namesake) Steve Winwood. It’s a truly beautiful song. Absolutely one of best songs of the year.

And between that wonderful song and the final track comes ‘See It To Believe It’ which is a simply great, swaggering, rock and roll party of a song that Bad Touch do so well that seems yet another destined to be played live.
Like ‘side one’ ended with something uplifting, so does ‘side two’ – it’s a neat echo repeating the trick of rounding out with a sing-along. Closer ‘Dizzy For You’ has that southern sheen and wonderful melodies but is so ‘feel good’ you could have it prescribed. It’s a song that sounds so familiar it instantly connects and caps off what is a simply wonderful album.

Bad Touch is a great rock n’ roll act and ”Bittersweet Satisfaction” is without a doubt their best album. It’s not often a band 5 albums in can deliver like this. You are all in for one huge treat just in time for Christmas.
This is one record that needs to be on everyone’s 2023 list.
HIGHLY Recommended

01 – Slip Away
02 – This Life
03 – Spend My Days
04 – Bittersweet Satisfaction
05 – Nothing Wrong With That
06 – Taste This
07 – Tonight
08 – Come Back Again
09 – See It To Believe It
10 – Dizzy For You

Vocals – Stevie Westwood
Guitar – Rob Glendinning
Guitar – Daniel ‘Seeks’ Seekings
Bass – Michael Bailey
Drums – George Drewry

BUY
www.amazon.com/Bittersweet-Satisfaction-Bad-Touch/dp/B0CBCXNLNY