CoronaVinyl Day 9 (Red Vinyl): Pinewood Smile by The Darkness

For an explanation of CoronaVinyl, click here.

Today's CoronaVinyl category is red vinyl.  Most of my red vinyl is from The White Stripes, who I featured yesterday for white vinyl, but thankfully, there are other options.  In 2017, British rockers The Darkness released their fifth studio album, Pinewood Smile.  I've been a huge fan of the band since 2003, so I gladly took them up on their Pledge Music pre-order sale of the album that included various formats and levels of swag.  I went with the red vinyl that came in an album covered signed by all four band members.  As the photo above indicates, the signed album cover is framed and hanging in my Rock and Roll Staircase.  As an aside, I think you should all have a Rock and Roll Staircase, or if your dwelling is one level, at least a Rock and Roll Wall.

Pinewood Smile is the first full album to feature drummer Rufus Tiger Taylor -- and "Tiger" is his real middle name, not a nickname -- who is the son of Queen drummer Roger Taylor.  The album is a beautiful amalgamation of everything that is still good about rock and roll.  If you desire some tongue-in-cheek lyrics set to well-oiled rock and falsetto vocals, then Pinewood Smile is for you.

But more importantly, if you have a chance to see The Darkness live, do it.  They are one of the best live bands around, and I say that having seen hundreds of concerts.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "Southern Trains"
I go back and forth between whether "Solid Gold" or "Southern Trains" is my favorite song off of Side 1.  While "Solid Gold" has the best chorus on the album -- "We're never gonna stop / Shitting out solid gold -- I have to go with "Southern Trains" as my favorite song off of Side 1.  It's a tongue-in-cheek song about how shitty some train lines are, and it manages to rock harder than pretty much anything that's been on the radio in the last ten years.  That guitar solo is ridiculous.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Japanese Prisoner of Love"
"Japanese Prisoner of Love" is the first track on Side 2, and it wails.  The opening riff could be on pretty much any thrash metal album.  The song is about the pains of prison life ("I used to think that my life was so sweet / But it's sour / I used to be alone / In the shower").  It is perhaps the only song ever that references a "stabby white supremacist named Klaus."  The guitar solo in this one is also great, featuring some Thin Lizzy-esque twin lead guitars.