the garrets - 4 track demo
following on from the nme sanctioned 'the good time women' brian filosa pops up in this 70's styled country-rock band. as it's a genre i know little about i cannot tell you how close this is to gram parsons, the byrds etc that i suspect it is, given that the only reference point i have is bob Dylan's sidekicks 'the band'.
however, opening track 'whiskey woman' with its lovely acoustic guitars, laidback vibes and wonderful warm instrumentation gets the ep off to a good start and creates a warm fuzzy feeling, towards the end extra violins are added to lift the level slightly. 'old time feeling' has a more uptempo groove provided by a vibrant acoustic strum, a sing-a-long chorus part making it perfect for those camp fire parties. that is, until we hit the 2 minute mark and the song suddenly takes a deviation and becomes a full on guitar solo rock monster. interesting, and probably the best thing amongst these tracks. 'blade in the shade' is a simple song played out well but reveals the lack of studio time in the vocals slightly, but as the song is lovely and honest it still wins the listener over. finally there is 'cemetery school' featuring more of the slide guitars, non-cheesy string arrangements, and easy to digest melodies - it seriously reminds me of a 60's psychedelic pop classic that i just cant nail down. in fact its something along the lines of don mccleans' 'american pie', and indeed references in the lyrics about the beatles show the pop music heritage that the band adhere to, a time of classic pop songs played direct in someone's basement straight onto tape.
nice stuff.