Wackiness.org Reviews Archive § Music

So then, this is not needingly your ordinary country album. They describe themselves as Acoustic-Indie, but I don't buy it. Throwing in some liberal themes and the occasional electric guitar won't save you from being listed as country in my book. Not to say I don't like country. My good friend Brad Paisley continues to have the occasional song in my play list, and Toby Keith is fun to laugh at, but otherwise you would be hard pressed to get me to name 5 country artists I like.

So with that prejudice out of the way, lets hit this up. We've got the usual country themes going here. So they've got a drinkin' song, a lovin' song, a why'd-ya'-leave'-me' song and a combo drinkin'lovin' song. As if I hadn't been offtopic enough already, here I go. "Drink, sir, is a provoker of 3 things. Sleep, nose painting, and urine. Lechery, sir, it provokes and un-provokes, sets you on and takes you off,"* so I don't know how they did the drinkin' part before the lovin', must have something to do with being born with a blood alcohol level over the legal driving limit.

Country drinking jokes aside, this album sounds quite soothing to the tired ear. Despite the themes which would cause a rather upbeat nature, everything is sang in the melodious voice of the lead singer. It features the most melodious use of what Mr. Beaubien referred to as the "F-ingbomber" I've ever heard. It's such a soothing profanity that you have to rewind to make sure you heard it right.

So then, Billy's Porch is harmonic remberance about old friends and going home, with a low concentration of alcohol. It's War (mama) is rantings about why she can't sleep at night, with pleasantly sung thoughts about very dark themes. It also features a hideously long harmonica intro! Don't listen to it if you like living! Continue the drinkin'+lovin' themes until the hidden track. This hidden track is some weird stuff. I think it's about some sort of musical valium trip or something. You can never be too sure with those hidden tracks. It's actually the best music on the album, as the country sound is minimized for some synth-flute-piano-'letric guitar kind of stuff. It's the kind of stuff you could hold some kind of long-haired-hippie-square dance to.

Overall this isn't a bad album, or a really good one. It's just sort of there, very hard to listen actively too. I've been tempted to fall asleep towards the end, and it's only 33 minutes long. If you can't sleep at night, throw this baby in and relax in it's soothing countriness.

*Courtesy William "Bill" S.

Rating

69/100

Reviewer

Nick Petschl

Published

March 04, 2004