I just got BSO's "Songs from Lonely Avenue" and have listened to most of it twice. I would say it is BSO's weakest effort to date. There's just nothing that jumps out as a remarkable song. "Gimme Some Rhythm Daddy" is about the best, with a pretty catchy beat and a good female singer, but the lyrics seem a little stilted. Many of the songs just kind of sound the same as each other.
Most of the album is dark, with a gangster theme. Much of it reminds me of Royal Crown Revue's "Mugzy's Move" CD. That's a little odd... while BSO's themes have always been about the wild side of life, they've never overtly glorified crime as such. And the lyrics are a little more sophisticated than one would expect about gangster subjects, so they seem out of place.
Two inverse instrumentals have the potential to be interesting: "Mr. Jazzer Goes Surfin'" and "Mr. Surfer Goes Jazzin'". But I'll have to listen to them a few more times to be able to tell them apart.
The final track, "Elena", is a fine Spanish-style instrumental. I've heard Brian play "Malaguena" solo a few times in concert, and this sounds much like it. Brian is every bit as good an acoustic fingerpicker as he is an electric flatpicker - I'd like to hear more of this style from him.
No comments:
Post a Comment