This is an open forum for staff members, contributers, and fans alike to submit their reviews on the latest music releases and concerts. In an industry that is drowning with overprocessed, grossly overrated, unoriginal crap these days, this is our chance to allow the real stars to shine, if only on our humble, little stage; and expose you to some of our favorite talents.
Reviews are given 1 - 5 stars.
Casualty
Hold On
Trees
Rain On the Brain
The Tunnel
Eyes Can’t See
The Riddle
Clinic
Call of Distress
Straight as an Arrow
Clouds
So if you followed the show Rock Star: INXS at all, you are familiar with Marty Casey. He was the runner up on the show but some might call him the real winner. After losing on the show he picked up a record deal with Epic and was able to stay true to his own brand of straight ahead rock n roll without pretending to be the late, great, Michael Hutchence.
It’s been awhile since a cd like this has come out, one that can be defined simply by one word: ROCK. There is no misconception here. Marty Casey and The Lovehammers (apparently 15 minutes of fame on TV must be capitalized on while it can be, so rather than release the CD under just The Lovehammers, they added Marty’s name to the repertoire) have been rocking out in Chicago since before the show, and luckily for us, they’ll be rocking out well after. The songs on this cd are totally catchy. It’s a mix of old songs the band had written before the show and some new songs (some of which where written and produced by none other than SR-71’s Mitch Allan.)
It’s kind of strange because I can’t think of a lot of new bands that are releasing this kind of music at the moment. Had they released this album 5 years ago, it may have drowned with the competition, but I think timing is everything and right now there are a lot of music fans that are really hungry for just some straight ahead rock and roll. No pretense, no bells and whistles, just the music doing the talking. It’s refreshing.
When I saw Marty perform his original song “Trees” on the show, I wasn’t all that impressed. It seemed simplistic and reminiscent of a car with a flat tire, probably because it was written to be played with a full band and plugged in!! The song takes on a new life on the CD and it won me over. It’s still a mellow tune but the band really filled in the missing spaces.
You get it all on this CD from the softer tones of Clouds and Rain on the Brain to the total rockers Casualty and The Tunnel. I haven’t been able to get The Tunnel out of my head for a week.
This is an amazing album from start to finish: the songwriting, the musicianship, the production. Make no mistake, this album is no runner up.
You can currently check out The Lovehammers on tour with none other than INXS.
Reviewed by: Mary | March 2006
