BACKYARD TIRE FIRE

Vagabonds and Hooligans

2007-01-12

There is nothing to get excited about on this album and that is precisely the strength of this Midwest band’s third CD; no rock your socks off standouts, although 11-Downtime is in the neighborhood, and no surprises. On their third full-length disk, these three guys and a few musical support pals find good range and variety on the horizontal plane, where they rely on their musicianship to draw out the varied sounds of acoustic, electric, slide, pedal steel and baritone guitars, dobro, violin, drones, synthesizer and organ, without losing themselves in the vertical. Only in 5-Corinne, 7-Tom Petty, and 11-Downtime do they flirt with losing their good vocals in louder, more raucous noise, which is not to say they are not playable. While retaining a feeling of homegrown, the CDs production quality is good enough to keep the listener in these noisier tunes. The rest of the album is slightly more up-tempo than laid back which is to say, with elements of folk, pop, alt-country, Southern rock, R&B and rock’n’roll, this CD works from end to end. One of the cool things about this band and this collection is the variety of sounds that remind of other better known musicians like Wilco, Neil, old REM, Drive-by-Truckers, Whiskeytown…. Good stuff. – Michael Burgwin

More reviews tagged #Rock

  • reviewed 05/2011

    HERE WE GO MAGIC
    The January EP

  • reviewed 06/2007

    Ian Hunter
    Shrunken Heads

  • reviewed 02/2006

    NINE HORSES
    Snow Borne Sorrow

  • reviewed 12/2010

    MARTI BROM
    Not For Nothin'

  • reviewed 12/2010

    WARPAINT
    The Fool

  • reviewed 05/2004

    Morrissey
    You are the Quarry

Compiled by the WYCE Journalism Club

The opinions expressed in these reviews are those of the individual volunteers that submitted the article and do not necessarily reflect the views of WYCE or GRCMC; nor its staff, donors, or affiliates.