Monday, January 26, 2009

CD Review: Frogs Gone Fishin'



Colorado has done gone blue! To quote Martha Stewart, “it’s a good thing.” Not only did voters back Obama, but they even dragged self-righteous congresswoman/supervillain Marilyn Musgrave kicking and screaming from her congressional seat.

But living in the land of the liberal isn’t all wine and arugula. When tolerance and respect for the environment are in full swing, there will be the inevitable jam band resurgence, not exactly something to celebrate in a music scene once oversaturated with those messy guitar solos and super-laid-back attitudes. As long as groups like Frogs Gone Fishin’ are leading the charge, maybe things won’t get too stinky.

The Denver quartet’s debut, Tell Me True, is decent enough for a potential forerunner, hefty with summery instrumental fills and vocals that wiggle between Jack Johnson (“Life In A Magazine”) and The Meters (“735”). Standout track “Mexico” is the best of both worlds: funky guitar and Corona-cool singing build into an aromatic “Na-Na-Na-Na” chorus.

Beyond that, the going gets generic. Tell Me True isn’t a bad album by any means, but to call it anything beyond decent is a bit of a stretch. A good portion of the album is just dull, piled on with the same bargain bin sounds available at your local Wal-Mart for a buck-ninety-nine.

Cornball lyrics make matters worse, as is the case in Tell Me True’s title track: “Tell me all you care about is oil, tell me all you care about is greed, the man tells me what to care about… and knocks us on our knees.” Even Republicans have displayed sharper creativity.

www.myspace.com/frogsgonefishin

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

this has to be the dumbest review I've ever read.

"when tolerance and caring about the environment are in full swing"

damn those trends, trying to be respectful.

who do these hippies think they are!!!