2009-08-08
This is the second album from the San Francisco seven-piece outfit, Or, the Whale. I find it to be a bit more "countryfied" than their first album, "Light Poles and Pines". This album of sometimes rocking, folk-country does have some good things to offer, such as nice production and vocal harmonies. Besides your basic guitar, drums, and vocals, Or, the Whale's brand of Americana also features dobro, pedal steel guitar and banjo. Most of the songs here are somewhat Starland Vocal Band-sounding in their country-pop harmonies. The more rocking songs are the album opener, "No Love Blues", the haunting "Keep Me Up", and the Jefferson Airplane-ish "Black Rabbit". Rebecca RuthJOHN MCCUTCHEON
This Land: Woodie Guthrie's America
TWO LOONS FOR TEA
Nine Lucid Dreams
JOE SWANK & THE ZEN PIRATES
HANK WILLIAMS DIED FOR MY SINS
EILEN JEWELL
Letters from Sinners and Strangers
Genna & Jesse
Asphalt Rhapsody
Billy Talbot Band
Dakota
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