From uberrock.co.uk on Ready Set Go:
The history of Sharks is a fairly well-known story now, with the band originally being formed as a supergroup of sorts by former Free bassist Andy Fraser along with guitar legend Chris Spedding and vocalist Steve ‘Snips’ Parsons. Despite critical acclaim and a considerable promotional budget, the band failed to truly take off for various reasons.
Spedding and Parsons have collaborated on numerous occasions in the intervening years, and it was in 2016 that Sharks surfaced again with some live shows that preceded the release of 2017’s superb ‘Killers Of The Deep’ album. It was at one of those 2016 ‘comeback’ shows at London’s Borderline that I first got to grips with Sharks, and they bit me hard that night. Having fully digested the ‘Killers Of The Deep’ album released a few months after that show, I started to go back in time and check out the original band’s albums. As fine as they are, I can honestly say I think Sharks are a better band now, and this new album ‘Ready Set Go’ only cements that opinion for me.
When ‘Killers Of The Deep’ was originally released, the intention seemed to be that it would be the one final album to achieve some sort of closure for the band, so this one comes as a very welcome and unexpected added bonus. But don’t expect ‘Killers Of The Deep’ part two – ‘Ready Set Go’, conceived under the working title of ‘Black Beatles/White Temptations’, is a different beast. More eclectic, more organic, more subtle, it’s an album that gets under your skin and grows on you with every listen.
The album eases you in with the subtle acoustic blues of ‘Big Chantelle’ before the Hendrix-flavoured uptempo belter ‘Who Chaser’ confirms the band are still packing a punch and penning quality tunes. ‘That Girl’ and ‘Kink Mess’ add an element of blue-eyed soul into the mix, and ‘Doo Wop Nation’’ is a clever soulful blues piece, heavy on the slide guitar, referencing the Beatles and the Beach Boys and putting that original working title into perspective.
‘Mr. Sloane’ is a real highlight, a raucous re-working of ‘Hey Joe’ with updated lyrics, ‘Crash Party’ has a power pop sensibility to it and ‘House Of You’ perhaps comes closest to the Stones-esque swagger of the previous album. Elsewhere, the likes of ‘Come All Ye’, ‘Darkwing and Honeybee’ and ‘It Will Stand’ are incredibly well crafted songs, and ‘A Lovelike Eye’ and ‘Song Of The Slaves’ close the album with a more laid back and dreamy approach.
Having had a sneak preview of a couple of these tunes at a show towards the end of last year, I was pretty sure this album was going to be a good one, and now it’s here I’m certainly not disappointed. This is quality from start to finish.