TRACII GUNS' LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN - The Second Record (2014)

Genre - Hard Rock / Psychedelic Rock / Retro Rock

Label - 

Track listing:

01 - Anywhere We Want To Go

02 - Cinnamon Girl

03 - Sunshine

04 - Days

05 - Gimme Some Truth

06 - You Get What You Deserve

07 - Citadel

08 - For What It's Worth

09 - Ride Captain Ride

10 - Hey Bulldog

11 - Strychnine

12 - White Rabbit

13 - Devil Or Angel

14 - Eeny Meeny Miney Moe

L.A. Guns founder guitarist TRACii GUNS set himself on a new path last year when he pulled together his own band LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN and revisited the roots of classic rock. The First Record delved deep into Sixties and Seventies blues and psychedelic rock for a surprisingly refreshing venture.
Now, The Tracii Guns League of Gentlemen warp back to the past once more for "The Second Record".
Tracii and friends appear to go a little deeper into the past, more towards the psychedelic Sixties for their sound. However, unlike the previous album, "The Second Record" offer no original material from the band. It's entirely covers, including songs from The Beatles, John Lennon, Neil Young, Jefferson Airplane, The Kinks, Rolling Stones, and Mitch Davis to mention some of the more high profile artists.
You might find that you might not recognize some of the songs. But you will remember Cinnamon Girl, White Rabbit, Ride Captain Ride, Lennon's Gimme Some Truth or For What It's Worth.
That latter song, made famous by Buffalo Springfield, is likely best known by it's refrain, 'I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound? Everybody look what's going down.'
Possibly the very best thing that can be said of this album, the songs, and the League's treatment of them, is the genuine authenticity and simplicity they give the songs.
In those days there was no digital recording, Pro Tools, or auto-tuning. Recording was simple and direct, often bare bones, raw, and straight forward, with the musician and instrument seeming to have an almost organic bond.
Guns and fellows get this, and while it may seem that these recordings sound more modern, the band strays little from the original vibe of a song.
The aforementioned "For What It's Worth" is a good example when Guns expresses the psycho, sometime eerie, guitar line that both leads and provides the necessary atmosphere. Another is "White Rabbit", where the drums offer this disturbing foreboding at the start and the guitar line, again, reveals the trippiness of the lyrical theme.
Fundamentally, while wanting to render the songs faithfully, I think Guns's League wanted mostly to channel the musical style and spirit of the era to our century.
That's no mean feat, and they succeed substantially. It might even cause you to a little classic rock history yourself.
This is Classic Rock, and really well done.
Well Worth Checking Out!
Recommended.

Rating 9/10

The Dowling Poole - Bleak Strategies 2014

Genre - Psychedelic Pop / Psychedelic Rock / Power Pop

Label - Pledgemusic

Track listing:

01 - The Sun Is Mine

02 - A Kiss On The Ocean

03 - Hey Stranger

04 - Saving It All For A Saturday

05 - Paper, Scissors, Stone

06 - Empires, Buildings and Acquisitions

07 - Where The Memories Fester

08 - Twilight Subplot

09 - Getting A Licence

10 - Clean

11 - The Straw Man (track exclusive to pledge music pledgers)

"The Dowling Poole is a new band formed by singer-songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Willie Dowling (ex Honeycrack/Jackdaw4) and Jon Poole (ex Cardiacs/The Goddamn Whores/The Wildhearts/Ginger Wildheart Band).
Dowling and Poole first met in 2011 when recording and producing Ginger Wildheart’s award winning, top-ten "555%" album, and it was mutual admiration at first sight.
"I was immediately taken by Jon's remarkable and diverse musical talent", says Dowling, "but it took me an age to pluck up the courage to phone him and ask whether he'd like to do something together."
Fortunately, Poole had been thinking along the same lines and was equally thrilled at the prospect of working with Dowling. They started writing songs and locked themselves away in Dowling's recording studio in France for a few months, writing and recording an album they have titled "Bleak Strategies".
Influenced by pop masters such as XTC, Blur, 10CC, The Kinks, The Beatles and more, The Dowling Poole debut album "Bleak Strategies" is an eclectic and contemporary sounding mix of semi-psychedelic pop, somehow quintessentially British-sounding, laced with harmonies and a multitude of influences from the best of 50 years of rock and popular music.
"It was a very collaborative process", says Poole, "We both brought songs to the table and we performed, sang and produced them together. You'd be hard pressed to guess who wrote what since we both were adding ideas left right and centre to each others work".
"Bleak Strategies" will be out in the summer along with the single "The Sun Is Mine", (the perfect radio song for summer), but it's available to pre-order now from PledgeMusic. You can see videos on the origins of the band, and download a free track - "The Straw Man" - and there are other tracks to listen to in a 'try before you buy' fashion, as well as regular video updates from the PledgeMusic website: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/thedowlingpoole"

Okay so that's the background sorted, now what about the album? Well to be honest its exactly what I think that you would expect from a collaboration between two of the wackiest songwriters in music today!
Imagine Jackdaw4's quirkier tracks such as Jesus Wants My Soul Back, and the poppier Goddamn Whores tracks crossed with a healthy dose of the Beatles at their most eccentric and I would say that you are pretty damn close.
From The mellow laid back opener The Sun Is Mine, to the catchy Hey Stranger, the eighties influenced A Kiss On The Ocean, the bouncy pop of Saving It All For A Saturday, the stomping Getting A Licence,to the laid back Paper Scissors Stone, to the ambient Twilight Subplot and clean,this album really does have it all.
Empires, Buildings and Acquisitions is just as quirky as it gets, pure brilliance. There simply is not a bad track on this album, although for many it is surely going to be an acquired taste!

One song that really does deserve a little more explanation here is The Straw Man, with its controversial subject matter, that being about the entire Jimmy Saville saga. A great song that has been issues as Pledge exclusive, (not on the album) as they believed it didn't fit, its the rockiest of all the songs on offer with probably the fastest tempo too. A great song and worth pledging for alone!

This album is just fantastic, much in the same way as A Night At The Opera and Sargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club are. Genius really does border on madness!

Rating - 10/10