Mick Rossi - Mick Rossi's Gun St (2023)

The man who put the fire in Slaughter & The Dogs, legendary guitarist Mick Rossi releases new album Gun St, featuring ten original tracks plus a cover of T REX’s Telegram Sam.

Inspired by the lauded and much loved Mick Ronson (Ronno) who was a contant present in Mick’s life before his sad passing in 1993, the album, which is named after the street in Ancoats where his family settled from Italy in the 1930s, features help from The Cult’s Billy Duffy on guitar, along with Dan Graziano on bass and Mark Reback on drums.

Mick made no secret of his admiration for Ronno during his interview with me when he popped over to the UK to attend his brother Ray’s gallery show in London at the beginning of this month. He hammered out Slaughter & The Dogs classics on the pavement along with Howard Bates and Brian Grantham outside The Royal Exchange, before police stepped in to silence the performance! You can feel the influence of Bowie’s sidekick right through this glam rock infused album.

Gun St ups the tempo from Mick’s last outing, All The Saints and All The Souls which came out in 2020, which we reviewed here. It featured the same signature fuzz guitar and piano you’ll find on Ziggy Stardust and very much echoes that sound and feel. In fact, had it come out in 1972, it would have fitted right in.

The album starts with Give Me Life – Cult meets glam, with that familiar guitar ripping through the core atop a clattering drum beat and some really tasty lead. High spot Brightest Star appears to play tribute to Bowie – anthemic and uplifting, classic glam song structure.

Paying tribute to Marc Bolan, Telegram Sam is delivered straight, with heavy fuzz guitar and piano and at this point you begin to realise what a true rock voice Mick has. It’s great to hear him giving it a proper work out on this track. The Bolan feel continues through Love Life which combines touches of Elvis, rock n roll piano and some outstanding guitar flicks. High High Low Low ups the ante with its rip-roaring opening and its Jean Genie construction before the album breaks into pure Ronno territory with Anticipation, which ascends brilliantly half way, soaring off into glam anthem territory!

The album closes with the obligatory glam balled I’ll Never Love Again; OK it reminds me a little of Strawbs, but that’s no bad thing – so intertwined was that band in the history of glam. The song could also be a Ronno track with its arching Slaughter on 10th Avenue style lead.

Mick has released an album which in may ways eclipses his hero. Ronno was a frustrating songwriter – despite his utter brilliance in playing and arranging, in my opinion, it lacked a little. I guess it is hugely relative, as his ultimate comparison was one of the greatest stars the world has ever seen, and someone who’s shadow he could never quite move out of. On Gun St Mick Rossi has delivered a hugely enjoyable album, solid and cohesive, and one he should be immensely proud of.