FEATURED REVIEW.............................................................01 AUG 2005
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Artist:
RICHMOND FONTAINE |
Let's face it, with Post to Wire (2004), the boys from Portland set the bar pretty damn high. A career album is a tough act to follow.
The Fitzgerald is no Post to Wire--gone is the punk underbelly ("Montgomery Park"), absent are the infectious sing-alongs ("Post to Wire," "Always on the Ride"). In their stead, we find a band stuck on weather-bound idle--but don't take that as an indictment. What the record lacks in melodic flash, it makes up for in a sort of lumbering grace.
Certainly, The Fitzgerald has what can best be described as "weather." Subdued, understated, moody, and brooding, the album is largely an acoustic effort. It's porch-sittin', whisky-sippin', gloaming-tide music. The tracks run together, yes, but pleasantly so.
In the way of cheeze, The Fitzgerald doesn't leave us much to criticise. "Welhorn Yards," which opens with a few acceptable extraneous sounds (a squeaky chair, guitar strings buzzing on the fretboard), features a bit of phony wind and some ambient tinkle. Other than this needless embellishment, however, the album is a cheeze-free affair.
In summation: No, The Fitzgerald doesn't quite match the band's last effort, but we have the sneaking suspicion that it will age just as well. If you have a porch (or just a bottle of whisky, for that matter), get yourself a copy. Half a cheezeball for "Welhorn Yards."
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A NOTE ON THE RATING SYSTEM:
5 CHEEZEBALLS = UNLISTENABLE SCHLOCK
3 CHEEZEBALLS = A DIFFICULT SLOG
1 CHEEZEBALL = THE ODD FORGIVABLE MISSTEP
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