Thursday, January 18, 2007


David Brake & That Damn Band – Spin Around (Westerland Records).

12 new songs, all played live, yes David Brake and That Damned Band are back. Live albums are notoriously difficult to pull off for many a reason and, in my opinion, every band that is worth its salt has to release at least one in their career. They open with the title track with a Bob Dylan style verse and Billy Joel rapid delivery a la We Didn’t Start The Fire. It has a strong, simple chorus and it allows the band to set out their stall as a tough live band. Greyhound Bus is good modern country rock and suits Brake’s easy style. He has the ability to become another great American storyteller. It’s so easy to listen to this band and they are on top form on Kayla Blue. She Owns My Bones leans toward classic country and although it’s a bit sedate for me I’m sure that it will please those many country fans out there. There’s some more contemporary country on Ugly People and I Got Friends is pleasant enough middle of the road fare.

Ignorant Hicks is Eagles style country rock and a jovial dig at city dwellers whilst the effortless Kingdom Of One is top class new country – a standout. Bottle Of Beer is more traditional country and not particularly inspired and Jennifer’s Leavin’ is standard fare new country. Things lift up with Bar Tab Blues, a great example of Brake’s excellent songwriting skills and the album finishes with Beer Gut. The fun filled lyrics obviously strike a chord with the men in the crowd and there’s some good interaction with the audience at the end but it’s a woman’s voice that you hear most clearly.

It takes a good band to pull off a live album – this is a good band.

http://www.thatdamnband.com/
http://www.davidbrake.com/

David Blue.

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