JIMMY BARNES – DEFIANT
Reviewed by Spectre Scribe • 6 June 2025
Those big open chords, that rolling piano line, the gospelesque harmonies and then Barnesy pouring a lifetime of grit, graft and gravel into heartfelt lyrics. Yeah it's all in there; from the quintessential opening drive of That’s What You Do For Love and title track Defiant, to the utterly beautiful Beyond the River Bend by way of the Americana storybook of The Long Road and the closing brass infused bluesy swing of Sea of Love this is truly a work of art and to my ears at least the most complete album Mr Barnes has ever put together.
The good you see will give you a moment, the great will hold you in that moment for a night or an album…legends though, well legends will make that moment last a lifetime. Forty years ago, this boy fell in love with the music of the working-class man, forty years on the boy has become a man, and the working-class man has become a legend. Man or boy, working class or legend, this is peak Jimmy and it’s glorious, absolutely glorious.
Much love
SS