More opera, more organ, more heavy, more heep!!!CLICK!!!
I've never been a huge fan of surf rock, but that never applied to strongly to The Ventures in my eyes. In 1965 when this was recorded most bands seemed to treat their instruments like frail delicate flowers, mostly focusing on vocal performance and 4/4 foot tapping romance bile. The Ventures were one of the first groups to really focus on exploring the extra space that electric instruments provided. Granted the surf rhythms are their to an extent these guys had a couple of genre defying tricks up their coat sleeves that took rock guitar to new levels. Their use of minor chords produced a darker, more melodic sound to the overall chord structures causing a less than sunny feel at times. The upbeat stuff was more of a west coast hat tip to the Memphis sound a decade earlier. But the truth is if you were going to play an electric guitar in front of the Japanese in the 20th century... You best rock. Japanese folks don't put up with neutered rock.
This album catches a lot of shit, most folks don't care for the idea of ZZ Top with keyboards. Well first of all of the synth use is basically for rhythm, the drums are electronic doubled with an actual kit from time to time. Guitar and bass still loud still awesome. This is the little ol' band from Texas trying their hand at early 80's psychedelic hard rock. The car on the cover is the Eliminator... It appears out of no where when dudes are havin bad days at shitty jobs, 18-25 different women climb out of the car... Three dudes appear(two with beards) and give the original dude the keys. The girls kiss all over him and the three mystic bringers of fortune play Sharp Dressed Man. The tracks T.V. Dinners and I got the 6 are worth the ride alone. Quit being an ass an get this!!
Sorry for the sparce postings... Busy week, weeks, whatever. Or maybe I'm just trying to savor Southern Rock Summer. Anyhoo, today's offering is MTB's first effort. This album captures the hunger of the mid era of Southern Rock. A mixture of blues, blue grass, honkey tonk and sheer country fuled by a steady Memphis rock under current. The mellow tracks are as beautiful as a Carolina sunset and the up beat cuts are fit for the finest barn dances long passed.