Brims with energy and pop smarts!
author: Luke Torn - Pop Culture Press
When the General Store swing into their “out on the 405” chorus on the beguiling “Come Around,” you will do a double take, thinking this is certainly a long-lost Neil Young outtake, circa Gold Rush or Harvest. As strong as that cut is – and it is a monster of full-blooded guitar-and-harmony rock glory – the band, led by singer/writer Tam Johnstone, son of Davey Johnstone (of Elton John’s band) from his vital contributions to the Orgone Box and Green Tambourines, but this group may be even more impressive. Mountain Rescue is album #2, following Local Honey, a 2003 effort on Not Lame, and gets help from Mojave 3’s Nick Zola and renowned producer Paul Reeve. Plenty of West Coast touchtones – Beach Boys, Byrds, Crazy Horse – inform the band’s approach, but Johnstone’s writing transcends. “Desert Weathered Hiway” rides weeping pedal steel straight into a shuffling, classic country chorus, something like Poco might have come up with in their prime, while “The Point” (think Dillard & Clark meets the Rubinoos!) and “Over Here” brim with energy and pop smarts. Highly recommended.
Read more...