77 Nothing'S Gonna Stop Us (Uk)

There's a long-running joke that AC/DC have been making the same album over and over again since 1975 ("But it's a great album!"), and one could make a case that Spanish hard rockers '77 are making a career out of covering that same AC/DC album every few years. Lead singer Armand Valeta clearly worships at the altar of the late great Bon Scott, and he and his brother LG Valeta have carefully studied the push and pull between guitarists Angus and Malcolm Young, coming up with a reasonable approximation of their tough but limber riff-heavy attack. But if '77 are a bit short on originality (well, more than a bit), there's no arguing that they're good at what they do, and their fourth album, 2015's Nothing's Gonna Stop Us, is a big, fun blast of hard-stomping rock & roll with a side order of boogie. Bursting out of the gate with "It's Alright," the sort of song that seems to dare you to see how fast you can drive between the stoplights, Nothing's Gonna Stop Us is amps-up-to-ten '70s-style rock with sweat, attitude, and a fierce commitment to moving the crowd. Bassist Guillem Martinez and drummer Andy Cobo hit hard with just a dash of swing, and keep the songs grooving and shaking from first track to last, and if the lyrics don't always have much to say (especially since Armand's English-language vocals have the right sound but often don't scan terribly well), the music consistently hits the bull's-eye, and there are too few bands delivering this sort of unabashed fist-pumping hard rock with this level of commitment in the 21st century. When '77 close out Nothing's Gonna Stop Us with "We Want More Rock and Roll," there's no question they absolutely mean it, and if you feel the same way, then this album will deliver what you need. ~ Mark Deming

• Format: Vinyl
• Genre: Pop