This is part of the "4 or 5 star album write-off" hosted by GasJocket214. Up until this point, I've never been involved in a write off before. When I saw the "advertisement" for this one in GasJocket214's tag line, I figured I would give it a shot, after all, what have I got to lose besides some time and having another review under my belt. Anyway, i would like give a thanks out to GasJocket214 for hosting this write-off and then, without further adieu, give you my write-off review....


Exposition
Or: how G. Love is one of the most underrated bands out there and I think everyone should listen to and love his music.

To begin with, this review serves two purposes. The first of which is to participate in a write-off hosted by GasJocket214 [1]. The second reason is to continue my undaunted evangelism for G. Love and Special Sauce, a band which has some popularity, but whose musical ability and general attitude make me believe that more people should pay attention to them and enjoy their music. I wrote a review of their debut album already [2].

I've sat down and tried to come up with a great description for the music of G. Love and Special Sauce, however, whenever I try, I always come up pitifully short. There really just aren't words out there to fully describe what this music is. You can listen to it and come up with many different roots and influences of it, but you can't really define it. One song will be full of the blues, the next will be mostly folksy, and after that it will be followed up with a bit of R&B or rap... you just don't know what to expect. However, no matter what it is, its always pulled together by some ethereal glue which I shall refer to here as G. Love-ness which funkifies it a bit and makes that final mothership connection to provide you something that is greater than the sum of its parts, and defies definition.

This undefined aspect of the group though is not one that stays constant. Much like a virtuoso artist, nothing is ever repeated completely, there is something different in every performance which offers a new complexity. Thus the albums move from style to style offering different glimpses at their personalities and musical tastes. There is no one song that you can pull out and say "This is G. Love and Special Sauce, there is nothing else that defines them more than this song." People who try to do this (usually pulling out songs such as Baby got Sauce or Cold Beverage haven't heard most of G. Love's music, they have only heard the songs that someone had played for them at a party. [3]

G. Love and Special Sauce are more than one album, they are a transition in progress.

When most people listen to the first album (again, I will plug the review that I wrote for this album, the link for which is located in footnote #2), they think of G. Love as more of a party band which really doesn't do much else. However, what I have found is that G. Love with his Special Sauce are quite the transitional band and it is very easy to follow this transition by listening to their albums. Each album produced by this band has a distinctive flavor from the last one which shows the directions that they are moving in, producing new sounds and new combinations.

For example, from their debut album to Coast to Coast Motel, you can tell that the band had been exploring more of their blues roots. Many of the same elements that were always there in their music are still prevalent, however, the featured elements of the songs moved closer to the blues side of the spectrum rather than their other influences. This isn't to say that they abandoned their old styles, its just to say that their style is more infused with blues than it was on the previous album.


The Album itself...

Honestly, every time I listen to one of G. Love's albums [3], by the time that I reach the end of the album, I think its the greatest thing that G. Love has ever produced. So, with that in mind... this is the greatest album that G. Love and Special Sauce has ever produced. It provides the fun nature of their debut album and mixes in the musical complexities that they use later in their career for a wonderful bridge album which provides a little bit of both worlds. To fans of their later music, it will sound a bit too simple and laid back; to fans of their earlier music, it will seem a bit too much into the blues for them. However, everyone will probably agree that it is a good album. For the reasons, I will diverge from many and actually say that this might just be G. Love's best album ever. [4]

Now... let's do the numbers...

1) Sweet Sugar Mamma (4'05")
This song starts off with a memorable little harmonica ditty by G. Love and then moves into a typical G. Love and Special sauce baseline groove with a hypnotic "rapping" by G. Love himself. Overall, this always gives me this laid back, sitting on the porch and playing music with friends feel. This song is a great example of a bit more mature background with the same more fun lyrical style by G. Love in the foreground.

2) Leavin' the City (3'40")
This song speeds the album up a bit. The funky base and drum line are kept up and G. Love throws a fun rap on top of it about Leavin' the City (who would have thunk it).

3) Nancy (3'21")
G. Love opens this one up again with a harmonica line, and then drones softly to his "Nancy". The fun nature of the album is continued with the standard Special Sauce funky background adding that extra texture. G. Love actually comes out with a guitar solo in this one, that is passed around a bit to different members of the band.

4) Kiss and Tell (3'14")
This is perhaps the most popular song on the album and is really where the blues/funk show up in more force. Again, it maintains the fun feel of the previous album. When I hear this, I still think about a bunch of people hanging out on a porch and belting this out while having a great old time. In the song G. Love demonstrates a more understandable "rapping" style and shows off on the harmonica again, while his band plays a more bluesy/funky background than usual.

5) Chains #3 (2'58")
A fun little song which features some base solos in the middle of it. There isn't much to this song as far as lyrical genius, but it tends to work in a jam-style song rather than your usual workup. It is very short, very sweet, and very simple.

6) Sometimes (4'23")
This moves back to the slower beat and feel of songs such as Garbage Man on the first album. The beat and background move at a saunter while G. Love layers on top of it in an almost drunken stagger of a beat. Whenever I listen to this song, I keep wanting it to speed up; which it finally does in the bridge, telling us Sometimes, you know what's on my mind almost hinting at the fact that they were building up to the faster speed in the middle (but then again, I'm probably reading too much into this).

7) Everybody (3'40")
This song moves back to a quicker moving, lighter feeling song. There is some soloing in the middle of it by G. Love on the guitar. The simple melody is rather pleasing, as is the message that everybody needs a good friend to help them through everything.

8) Soda Pop (3'49")
This continues with the upbeat feeling of the last song and moves it back to the old feeling of the first album. This song is really reminiscent of Cold Beverage not only in the tune but also in the theme, which is more along the lines of the different foods and drinks that G. Love likes. Not exactly what I would call lyrically complex, but still a very fun song.

9) Bye Bye Baby (4'39")
Another song which won't be blamed for lyrical genius, however is still a rather good song. Its a rather simple tune with a funky/blues line underneath and G. Love providing his rappin blues to go over it... a very fun song.

10) Tomorrow Night (4'55")
This song really slows the album down into a funky blues riff again. G Love waxes nostalgic about heading to his home and doing the things that he remembers doing, having fun with his family, the conversations that he will have and the like. Again, a small guitar solo is found toward the middle of the song (though not very large). You can tell that this song was written during a point where the traveling artist lifestyle wasn't quite jiving with what he wanted, a perfect time to bring out the blues.

11) Small Fish (5'21")
This song starts out with a little bit of a faster guitar riff, keeping the old funky bass line while G Love raps blues style over the top and playing the harmonica. This song is a great way to hear the musical ability of the band to jive together both with their instruments, and when they make some of their early experiments with the harmony that they use a lot later in their career can be found in this song. In fact, this song serves as a great bridge from their old sound the sound that they have now (which is still quite in the process of transition).

12) Coming Home (4'35")
Here G Love shows that they can be good both with their equipment plugged in as well as acoustic. It is a very simple melody and song, but yet its one of my favorites on the album (methinks this has to do with the fact that it is done acoustic, but I really can't prove that). It provides a nice little wrap up to the album, giving it that closer that so many things lack.


Final Thoughts...

One of the best parts of writing this review was that i got to spend a lot of quality time with one of my favorite CDs, listening to it more, dissecting, figuring out what i was going to say (and that never really comes that easy... though once I figure it out I never seem to be able to shut up about it).

This is by far one of my favorite albums that I own, and I listen to it at least a couple of times a month (depending on its availability after being stolen by friends and the like).

The music of G Love and Special Sauce is a very special thing since it seems to keep moving like it does. No two albums of this band are really alike, they all have taken from the old and added on to it with something new. This band is definitely not afraid to try new things (at least for them, some people may say that it is all derivative of older stuff, but personally I think the ability to mix the different forms of music that they do successfully is a statement in and of itself to their originality).


Footnotes...
[1] for more information on this, check out the website at his profile page (http://tibullus.epinions.com/user-gasjocket214/tk_~MM033.1.2), also check out the following participants:

4-1-1
kcfoxy
GasJocket214
madtheory
diamion
pffrdfdus7
Kenshin-Guy
astidham
kristinafh
Chris_Billings
orestes84
Cartman_2k
JuiceJW
quasar
ParisLemon
sweetycaroline
gmontag
Wretchedpyro
tootsweet824
twix109
dastr8poop
tigger500
Greatpilgrim
deaser26
d.markusen
gerper
tibullus
britguy
mattels
lisaatucla
Adjensen
crazy3237
vlenard
mzrizz
swanton00
trustedun
monssfisch
kuuleimomi
Slusy
netnut746
smcallister
biggs219
keiths001
xeno3998
pmills1210
believer77
bleuchance
Cr01
Cate1956
chad8246
jpeter
MichaelHatton
Jeremy1456
Telynor
Tammyinmiami
tchoate
saulsbury
annexation


[2] http://tibullus.epinions.com/content_16502722180/tk_~CB008.1.1

[3] I apologize to the members of this band, but writing out G. Love and Special Sauce is just too cumbersome for someone as lazy as I am, not to mention the horror that is adjectival agreement with that band name :-)

[4] I actually tend to believe this. When someone asks me what my favorite G. Love album is, I usually respond with Coast to Coast Motel


Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Hanging With Friends