I don’t do cutesy. I don’t see any artistic merit in changing a perfectly good C to a K, and I’ll leave my punning to Will Shortz and the Times Crossword.
What, then, am I to make of this Kill the Precedent from Kalvin Koolidge?
Based on the band and album names (what precedent, exactly, are you killing here, Kalvin Koolidge?), I wasn’t expecting much. And the music didn’t do much to change my mind. Oh, there are some bright spots. Singer/guitarist Tommy Koolidge has a really good voice; sort of a cross between Paul Westerberg and Linkin Park. There are moments of great riffery, and some of the songs almost reach the lofty levels that the band aspires to.
Unfortunately, Mr. Koolidge’s voice is wasted on some truly horrendous lyrics, the great riffery is often undermined by band play that is often seriously not together (Randy Jackson would probably say “That was kind of tempo-y, dawgâ€) and the songs often collapse short of the lofty levels that the band aspires to.
I’m not sure what it is, but a lot of this album sounds like ‘80s soundtrack music; like something you’d hear when the Kobra Kai are chasing poor Daniel-san around on their bikes, or like Michael Landon’s idea of a “rock band†in a Highway to Heaven episode. Some songs channel the almighty Dokken; some songs channel the diabolical Van Hagar. All of the material is so damn earnest and we’re gonna RAWK and save the world that I’m almost swayed. I just can’t get past the sticking points, though, and major sticking points they are. Get tight as a band, get tight as songwriters, and maybe hire some lyric writers. Or just become an instrumental band. Do all this and change the name of the band, and then we can talk about killing the precedent. (Brian Westbye)
Links:
Official site: http://www.myspace.com/kalvinkoolidge
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