Free Week #9


Dr.Dog: Fate:In my last post,I stated how mimicry can lead to a very good cd.What Dr.Dog does with,'Fate',is go well beyond that to create one of the best albums of the year.

Dr.Dog takes these other influences and paints brushstrokes with them then creates their very own masterpieces.Not only does each song stand alone,but when combined with what comes both before and after it,creates an effect of pure listening pleasure.

The classic-timelessness of 'Fate' gives me the strange feeling that I need to go out and buy the Lp version of this album.Maybe it's because this record has a lost rock and roll feel to it.Styles as diverse as John Lennon and Sufjan Stevens.Rock,Pop,Blues.
Country.And everything in between.This is the way rock albums used to be before everything became minutely categorized and overly analyzed and typecast.Prepackaged and presold bullcrap.

That makes this cd/download that much sweeter.In a time with non fat desserts and low carb candy,'Fate' gives you the real stuff.

Every song is a prime example of what I mean,but let's use,'The Old Days'because it is what's playing while I am writing this.I am reminded of early,'Glass Harp.I am not sure that the members of Dr.Dog even know whom'Glass Harp'are,yet,this song{also with an early ELO edge}fits into that early seventies genre so well,yet seems perfectly set in today's world of indie rock.

The next song,'Army of Ancients'(a Sufjan Stevens brush stroke)fits so well after,'The Old Days'that you just have to smile with it.

You are still smiling when,'The Rabbit,The Bat And The Reindeer',comes on afterwords.

I've got to hear this on vinyl.

If there could be a best song on an album this good,it could be,'The Ark'.Anguish,guitars,and a slice of unrepentant rebellion...yeah,baby.

The next four songs are so diverse-yet complimentary-that the grouping reminds me of listening to an old set of music on a 1970's AOR radio station(I'm talking to you 'M.M.S.').This was back when music on the radio was king...before it was washed,bleached,homogenized and pasteurized by big conglomerates like 'Clear Channel'.


'From'...

'100 Years'...

'Uncovering The Old'...

...are all good,but Dr.Dog proves they can jam on,'The Beach'.

Hell,this album even has a railroad theme to it(as is evident on,'My Friend'/'100 Years'/'Uncovering The Old'/'From'.

This cd has everything a Drew can ask for...now if I can only find it on vinyl...


A+