(It also suits the vintage 1960s tape recorder featured on the cover art.) Turner has said it’s the first set of songs he’s written on piano instead of his native guitar, and consequently the album has an echo-speckled, orch-pop, Burt Bacharach/Jimmy Webb-type vibe that’s well-suited to a group that’s spent a dozen years exploring the standard two-guitars/bass/drums rock template and, not coincidentally, all passed the age of 30 in the past couple of years.
Not to burst anyone’s bubble, but the excellent and hotly anticipated “Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino” is probably not going to meet anyone’s standard for saving rock and roll in fact it’s the group’s least rock effort to date.
