Thorogood’s Career Jammer

George Thorogood & the Destroyers – The Dirty Dozen
July 28, 2009
Capitol Records
Victim of Loudness War? No

George Thorogood and the Destroyers have always been about having fun with their music. Their sound is reminiscent of any bar band worth its salt and their best songs have always had plenty of hooks and sing-along moments to keep energy levels at their peak. This, partnered with Thorogood’s superb slide guitar playing, is no doubt what made them such an instant hit when they first appeared in 1977 and enabled them to maintain steady in-concert popularity through the present day.

The trouble with the group’s latest release, The Dirty Dozen, is that throughout the course of its twelve tracks, there never seems to be any reason for having released it. Granted, six of the tracks included here were previously released over the last three decades, but the other six tracks are newly recorded and presented for the first time on The Dirty Dozen. But all twelve of the tracks really serve no purpose as they add absolutely nothing to the band’s already vast catalog. These are twelve new blues covers, none of which match the quality or performance level of Thorogood and Co.’s previous successes.