Alex Lopez: Retro Revival Review
Alex Lopez and his band have been releasing records and touring the Southeast for over a decade. Growing up in an industrial town west of Cleveland, Lopez initially started playing piano, but the power of the guitar-driven classic rock titans of the ’60s and ’70s led him to take up the guitar. As a young player, he gigged in clubs and recorded original material, gradually sharpening his songwriting voice. College took him to the sunshine of Florida, where he now calls home. He fronted the rock band Reminiscion as vocalist and lead guitarist before launching a solo career. He played all the instruments on his self-recorded debut, Back Bedroom Blues (2013), which primarily established him as a guitarist and singer-songwriter.
The Alex Lopez Xpress (ALX) released its first album in 2015. Is It A Lie drew strong reviews in the indie-blues circuit. With each successive release, more recognition followed. Yours Truly, Me… reached number six on the Blues Radio charts in 2019. Rising Up was a top ten Billboard Blues charting album in 2021, and their most recent release, Looking For A Change (2023), also hit the Top 10 on the Billboard Blues chart. Various blues outlets have highlighted his stylistic connections to guitar heroes like Clapton, Page, Hendrix, The Beatles, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, along with nods to Led Zeppelin–style heavy blues rock.
Retro Revival arrives February 6 with positive early returns in the media. For his eighth studio release, ALX reunites Lopez with Steve Roberts on bass and Kana Leimbach on drums to complete the power trio dynamic. Lopez wrote or co-wrote all eleven tracks on the album. Announcing the album’s release on social media, Lopez posted, “The concept was to take the music styles that we love and grew up with and sprinkle them with a modern approach while keeping what made them great intact—feel and performance (because an album is actually a performance).” This is borne out after just a couple of listens, as familiar tones and riffs from past classics bring a sense of familiarity to these original songs.
Lyrically, the songs follow traditional blues themes of absent love, lost love, and the struggles of daily life. The album jumps right in with “One More Time (To Love You),” an uptempo classic blues mix with enough juke joint seasoning to get toes tapping. It features a nice blend of acoustic, slide, and electric guitar, including a guest solo from Lightning, of ALX’s touring partner Memphis Lightning. The first music video for the album, “Your Lovin,” has a familiar classic ’70s rock riff that is pervasive throughout the track. You can hear Zeppelin influences oozing out of the sorrowful blues ballad “When I Sing the Blues.”
The album pivots to social commentary with “Here I Am,” released as a single in advance of the album. With the release, Lopez posted, “The song is a plea for help for the many struggling to make ends meet in what can be a difficult economic world…” The track is brought forward with an intentional ’70s blues rock flavor. “I wanted it to be in the style of one of my favorite bands, Free, and an homage to the great guitarist Paul Kossoff,” he added. “What The World Needs” offers a remedy for the general negative malaise that seems to permeate today’s social view: “a little bit of loving, a little bit of hope, a little bit of patience.”
“Hey Little Sister” provides a break with an upbeat pep talk reminiscent of Zeppelin’s playful side, featuring the line, “Not enough money, but I got good loving, that’s all you need.” Perhaps the hardest rocker, “Angry,” is a hard-thumping vent: “Seems the world is a craze. Is it the end of days?” The album then returns to more personal blues themes with “Loving You Gives Me The Blues” and “In The Name Of Love,” which offers a more positive spin with an energetic, groovy beat while Lopez flirts with jazzy guitar touches.
Alex saves two of the best tracks for last with “Black Hole,” an instant classic blues rock jam that would have been radio-worthy before the days of streaming. The album closes with “Keep On Living,” a Beatles-esque reflective anthem: “Time to keep on living, take what I’ve been given, find my path to heaven.” It stands out amid the album’s tension between despair and anger. “The song, inspired by a moment of deep reflection, has a powerful message: life goes on, and you must always keep pushing forward to find your way and your destiny,” Lopez said.
By the time “Keep On Living” closes the album with its quiet resolve, Retro Revival has touched on three pillars of blues rock songwriting: personal heartache, social anger, and the promise of hard-won hope. Lopez and ALX never lose sight of the riffs and choruses, but there is a noticeable purpose to the writing. It reflects a band looking around at the post-pandemic world, with its hard-to-find truth and meaning, and deciding that blues rock can still carry hope and empathy.
The Review: 8/10
Can’t Miss Tracks
– One More Time
– When I Sing The Blues
– Here I Am
– Angry
– Black Hole
– Keep On Living
The Big Hit
– Keep On Living
