Great records are like old friends. As we move through life, we often drift apart due to geography, time limitations, other relationships that might have taken precedence, whatever. But, being friends, we reconnect periodically. Some you only see at a party; others for a quiet evening at home. Sometimes you get together and it’s a flurry of intense catching up- reliving details of the past and intervening years- other times history and time passed need not be rehashed and the present can simply be as if there were no time apart. All of this can be true with great albums and even ordinary albums that you love. With “Shame Shame”, Dr. Dog has blended the new with the familiar and crafted a new old friend for all of us.
Warm harmonies, plantive lead vocals, and savant-simple melodies infect this record. Opening with a ringing fanfare, the classic styling of “Station” sounds as if it could have come from Richard Manuel’s notebook but there’s a dose of something more there too.
On “Mirror Mirror”, the bridge is wildly up-tempo with a pounding rhythm and “Unbearable Why” shakes with a funky drum groove while an atmospheric synth waxes and wanes beneath the verses and chorus. “Later” opens with an eerie assorment of sounds as if from a prepared piano but quickly kicks in with a driving beat. Perhaps I’m way too attached to this band but “Where’d All The Time Go?” strikes me as a nearly perfect song. (Check it out below.) Similarly, “I Only Wear Blue” absorbs me on each listen.
[youtube width=”425″ height=”25″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0f5MHtm63k[/youtube]
One thing I’m taken with, when I hear Dr. Dog, is that they are each terrific players. The bass lines are rarely straight-ahead throughout any song. Although they are always tastefully creative, they effortlessly revert to basics when the song asks it. “Someday” is the perfect example of this. Great guitar playing is prevalent throughout but this isn’t a guitar god record. While there are solos, they all serve the song and the greater good of the excellent arrangements.
So, like an old friend, I can’t set this down with anything but love. Fans of honest rock & roll with songs driving the record should seek this out. To miss it, would be a shame.
[youtube width=”640″ height=”385″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc2LKVew8dE[/youtube]