But Caddle's overriding theme is much more serious: drinking in bars. The narrator of "Afternoon Lies" is a bar owner, in fact: "The sun never shines on the inside of this bar of mine/The beer is cold and the stories told are sure to blow your mind." The title track says it best: "Money's leavin' but I'm staying/Sling another drink to me/Party till it's morning/Baby what's your sign?/Daddy's got a brand new bag/Livin' on a dime."
The CD is a very enjoyable ride. It might have one power ballad too many, although "Give Me A Dollar" is a fine one - guess what he needs the dollar for? (Hint: it has flashing lights, it's often found in a bar, and it plays music.) So, in spite of a slight sag in the center, Caddle's debut - unlike the protagonists in most of the songs - comes up a big winner.
Extended clips can be heard here.
D'Haene, Brother Man
D'Haene merges soulful, lived-in vocals with funky guitar and hard rock riffs. In spite of a '70s classic rock influence, the mixing of genres and the wry, intelligent lyrics make the disc sound modern.
One minute you'll be reminded of Randy Newman, the next of Blue Oyster Cult, then you're grooving to some funk-jam band at a hygiene-deficient festival in upstate New York. Sometimes these shifts occur within a single song. "Feelin' Human," which, at just over five minutes, is of average length for this CD, is a mini-sonata, something like the early Who or Elton John might have done.
Bob D'Haene's voice isn't always up to the ambitions of his music, but the CD has a number of strong points. Extended clips can be heard here.
NEWS ABOUT NOTES: Copeland, a band Blogcritics has been all over (here, here, and here, at least), has signed with Columbia Records. The band's new CD, Eat, Sleep, Repeat, entered the Billboard Top 200 best-selling albums chart at #90. The band is currently on tour with The Appleseed Cast.
When a band we've covered here at the Indie Round-Up jumps to a major label, we have to stop talking about them. So let's listen to some Caddle while we break open a six-pack and send Copeland off into the world of, we hope, bigger and bigger success.
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