Rock’n’roll revived from a forty-year sleep — and sounding gloriously unbothered by the modern world.
Every now and then a track comes along that reminds you what rock music is actually for. Not your chin-stroking concept pieces, not the polished stadium fodder — but the real stuff. The sweat, the swagger, the low-lit, slightly naughty thrill of it all. Rusty Reid’s new single, “Piece of the Action,” lands squarely in that territory.
The story behind it is almost too good to believe. Back in the day — roughly four decades ago — Reid and a crack band of Houston musicians recorded an entire double album’s worth of melodic, hook-rich material. And then… simply didn’t release it. No drama, no legend, no collapse. They just walked away. The Unreasonables, as it’s now called, has finally been dusted off and given the release it should have had the first time round. And “Piece of the Action” makes it abundantly clear: this isn’t some relic. It’s a proper rock tune, spirited and shameless in all the right ways. Where Reid is usually known for his thoughtful, philosophical, even politically-minded songwriting, this single doesn’t bother with any of that. It’s pure instinct — raw, cheeky, and absolutely drenched in the urgency of romantic mischief. There’s a grin underneath every line, the sort of playful lust that rock once did so effortlessly.
Rick Poss delivers a standout performance on lead guitar, all grit and charm, the kind of playing that practically struts out of the speakers. The whole track feels live, loose, and delightfully unreconstructed — a reminder of a time before everything needed to be glossy or ironic. Following his first revived single, “Attitude Change,” this new release strengthens the sense that The Unreasonables might be a bit of a lost treasure. Not because it’s trying to sound vintage, but because it is vintage — and somehow feels fresher than half the modern rock playlists out there. “Piece of the Action” is, quite simply, great fun. It’s rock’n’roll with no pretence, no filter, just a spark of youthful bravado preserved in amber for forty years and now finally set free.
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