|
Continental Drifters
Better Day
Razor & Tie 7930182864-2
As it pretty much always has been, the rock ‘n’ roll landscape is one dominated by youth. Being just on the underside of middle-age myself and a fellow who gets charged up by good rock ‘n’ roll as much as my youthful colleagues, how refreshing it is to see a band of fortysomethings exuding that rocker spirit and looking like they’re getting their own respective rocks off in a big time way in the process. That band is the Continental Drifters, a collection of once-weres who first crossed paths in the late ‘80s in LA and since officially becoming a band in the early 1990s, have made their collective homes in New Orleans and have made three pretty swell records. The latest called Better Day is arguably the best of the bunch Like I alluded to, this a band whose individual members
have been around the block a few times With the exception of, drummer Russ Broussard, the members of the Continental Drifters brigade can be classified as vets of the rock 'n' roll wars who've all paid their dues That membership includes musicians who've done time with a wide array of bands, from 1980s North Carolina-based indie rock popsters the dBs (Peter Holsapple) to the '60s variety ala The Cowsills (Susan Cowsill), and Dream Syndicate (Mark Walton) to girl group the Bangles (Vickie Petersen) Broussard himself lists Cajun rockers the Bluesrunners on his resume while guitarist Robert Mache was a recluse from the Steve Wynn
Band.
On a Sunday night in the wide open loft of a mill-turned-art space in Fall River in early July, the Continental Drifters proved their mettle to these ears with flying colors. The fact that each of the Drifters when on stage couldn't stop smiling at each other as they made their music was a definite tip-off that some special chemistry was at work. And that on-stage chemistry certainly carries into the recorded work that is the brand new Better Day There is an organic formula at work here for this six-piece unit which at one moment can be playing poppy, na-na-na styled beach music, at the next going soul deep girl group with the clear and earthy
harmonizing of Petersen and Cowsill leading the way, or digging in as a single unit to rock their collective fannies off It is a formula that has worked real well for both the Continental Drifters and their small, but loyal legion of fans In particular, that close harmony, anywhere from two to four-part as Better Day as well as the live experience will attest It is at the core of the Drifters' sound and a quality all too absent from music these days where harmonies "manufactured" in the studio just can't cut it in the flesh Whereas the music of the Continental Drifters leans mostly in a roots rock 'n' roll direction, the boundaries are nearly nonexistent It is those harmonies as well as plenty of stellar musicianship that give the Continental Drifters' sound its true heart and soul Democracy is hard at work over all of Better Day, be it Walton taking a rare lead vocal turn on Tomorrow's Gonna Be getting gritty and near snarly, Cowsill getting all tender-voiced on Couin, or Peterson standing tough on Na Na. Another big selling point of Better Day is the overflow of instrumentation that sees horns, accordion and mandolin filtered into the arrangements which for the most part are driven by organ, guitars and rock-steady percussion. It makes for an air of unpredictability from one track to the next and gives the music of Better Day a freshness and vitality. I've heard folks classify the Continental Drifters as rock and roll for adults If sharp-eyed rockers and roots tunes delivered with exuberance and enthusiasm is your bag, it doesn't matter what age you are, Better Day will hit the spot (Razor & Tie Entertainment, 214 Sullivan Street, 4th Floor, New Yor, NY 10012 or www.razorandtie.com )
Floor, New York, NY 10012, or www razorandtie com)
|
