JennJoy's Full Review: The Soledad Brothers by Soledad Brothers
I’m a fiend for blues, both new and old. Sure, plenty of bands these days clearly draw off of elements of the blues, but let’s face it the White Stripes are not a blues band. Neither are the Soledad Brothers, but they come a hell of a lot closer than Jack and Meg White. Seeing as the Soledad Brothers are acquaintances of the Whites – with numerous connections including Jack’s helping hand with the recording of this album – it’s no surprise that the two bands get compared left and right. The Soledad Brothers have their feet firmly planted in the blues, despite being a bunch of city kids with a fairly hefty garage rock sound.
Their self-titled debut is one of those albums that aren’t great for many reasons, but you can’t help loving it anyway. The Soledad Brothers draw from many influences, but unfortunately are not creating anything even remotely new or innovative. Some of it sounds fairly contrived and half of the time I’m wondering if the Rolling Stones realize there is yet another band that stole a bunch of their old material. Not that this is a bad thing, because like I said I do like this album a lot.
Opening track “Gospel According to John” is your basic boogie and it is what I imagine you would get if you crossed the Doors, Bo Diddley, and George Thorogood. With a singer that calls himself Johnny Walker I’m not sure why I expected anything less. There are a few less than stellar tracks that follow this one, which I inevitably skip through because they simply lack any sort of passion. The album gets back on track with “Cadillac Hips,” a tasty slice of dark blues with more than a little rockabilly thrown in for good measure. This song has such a sinister groove that it is easily one of my favorites. “Rock Me Slow” is another winner – I love the percussion here and the laid back approach – this one and “Handle Song” unquestionably reminds me of late 60’s era Rolling Stones. “Gimmie Back My Wig” is the closest the Soledad Brothers come to really, truly doing their own thing or at least attempt to as this song is largely an amalgamation of all the styles present on the other tracks.
With only about half the tracks here moving me in any sort of noticeable way I feel a little strange recommending this album. For real blues-rock I’d take the Black Keys over the Soledad Brothers any day, but this is a fairly solid debut album that is worth a listen for anyone who enjoys modern blues or blues-rock. There are some great tracks here, despite the many comparisons to other – and in many cases better – artists. With the rash of White Stripes/Detroit band clones running around out there, I am really surprised that the Soledad Brothers haven’t received more notice than they have. With four albums to their name (the 4th released in a few days) they have a pretty solid foundation. Though I haven’t hear their newest one yet, though their sophomore effort tops their debut by a few notches. Even though this album won’t top any best-of lists in my book, the Soledad Brothers are a band I’ll be keeping my eye on.
Track Listing:
Gospel According to John
What Hath God Wraught
The Weight of the World
Front St. Front
Lovin’ Machine
Cadillac Hips
Shinning Path
Rock Me Slow
Handle Song
St. Ides of March
Sugar & Spice
I-75 Boogie
Do the Heartstopper
Gimmie Back My Wig
Mysterious Ways
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.