Best meeting EVER!!!! April 2014

April 2014

Music Club

Big Head Todd & Monsters- Black Bee Hive

Best effort in years that shows off their big plains cowboy groove and soul. The song writing is concise and economical and Mohr’s voice has a spiritual ring to it. Sadly there are not guitar histrionics, though you can catch snippets of what Mohr  is capable of and the disc marginally loses steam as it progresses. All in all this was a welcome surprise. (3.5)

Drive By Truckers- English Oceans

Deja Vu. Best complete release in years with Hood and Cooley writing songs of inspired grit and channeling their inner Willie (Cooley) and Neil (Hood). English Oceans doesn’t sound forced and feels as if the songs rolled easily out of the boys. They rock, brook, honky-tonk and twang. Only two songs didn’t resonate with me; “Hangin’ On” and “First Air of Autumn” but the rest catapults this into my top 10 most likely.   (4.0)

Collective Soul- S/T

I always liked the song “December”, and still feel it is the best song on this album, but I was never a real fan of the rest of their singles let alone albums. Being prepared to pretty much trash this I found myself not hating it and taking it for what is was: white man soul that when they rock the riff they aren’t half bad. But when they get a little less rock driven they slip into MOR rock for the masses. Won’t land on my regular play list but wasn’t the tripe I was expecting.   (2.5)

Human Switchboard- Who’s Landing in My Hangar

I had to look this up because I couldn’t tell if it was a current band being retro or a band from that retro time. Being the latter I have to look at this differently than if it was the former. What I  get from Human Switchboard is that they are non-glossed, sloppy garage band that had  some interesting ideas but unfortunately not the chops to see to fruition. They needed a producer, singing coach, metronome and instrument tuner. Lots of the Velvets present as well as Elvis Costello and Patty Smith. (2.0)

Clash Sandista- GH

Call it blasphemy, but the more ska, reggae influenced the Clash song, the less I tend to give a crap. It also seemed that those are the songs they wished to extend and groove on. When they straight ahead rock and spew their political attitudes I’m all in. So this mix for me is a 50/50 crapshoot.