Well, it's about time!
Actually, this album came out back in the summer, but was only available
from
the band themselves, at shows. And since they never played around here...
I
had to wait til it was put up for sale on their website.
(www.westboundsound.com)
As the liner notes say, about a year after "Searching for a Melody" the
band
lost 5 of it's 7 members. Left were singer/songwriter Obi Fernandez and
bassist Thad Merrit. These two struggled on, and re-grouped with a new
bunch
of ska-enthusiasts, who've now toured twice across the country, proving
that
the Westbound Sound don't die easy. (or so they say.)
This album definately shows itself as a worthy follow up to the
group's
first soulful, harmony-laden album. What I thought was going to be Obi
Fernandez and a back-up band was definately not. The album allows all of
the
new members a chance to ****ne, and proove that, while their not the
original,
version 2.0 is nothing to laugh at.
The first few songs are tunes that the band's been doing live since
their
first year, and are interesting to listen to, especially to those familiar
with
the first line-up's version. I still think "A New Hope" should have been
the
name of the album, but they might have wanted to avoid the Star Wars
fans.
I'm also pleased to hear more non-love songs on this album. For sake of
cohesion, the last album was jammed-packed with sap. Which worked, but I
would
have been tired of it had the follow up followed suit.
"Forever" and "Talk Loud" are two songs WT been doing for years, and
they
sound well practiced and tight. The new band members aren't quite as
noticable
in these songs. "Can You Please?" Is a rocking ska song, which ends in a
wild
three-part round, which I can say really gets the crowd going in concert.
"A
New Hope" (another old-hat number) allows the new vocalists to get into
the
act, refre****ng those wonderful harmonies from the first album, and
showing off
the new guitar player.
Having exorcised the older material, Westbound decides to show off
the new
guys, and present a new mission statement - on "Bigger things in mind,"
Obi
proclaims that, after a tour of the nation, he's determined to take this
band
to new hieghts.
Following this is the group's first instrumental recording, "Waiting
for
Tonight," (a song originally with lyrics), lets each horn and each
instrument
have a solo, showing the doubters that these aren't band-geek ska fans,
that
they've got some skill.
The next two songs are Westbound standing tall with a nice
recommendation
- Alex Desert of Hepcat toasts it up on "Soapbox," and adds a soulful duet
with
Obi on "To Know." The former is Westbound staking a claim for the future
of
ska - the Slackers' political conscience, nicely mixed with Hepcat
hornlines
and "Shoop-Shoop"s.
The latter is a throwback to the traditional, with a true rocksteady beat,
simple lyrics, and Maytals-esque backing vocals.
"When I Die" breaks off Chris Murray style - solo ska-strumming
guitar,
with Obi contemplating the end of a relation****p, as it relates to the end
of
it all.
"Lyric Architect" is Westbound paying rent to their landlord and Obi
paying dues to the mentor, King Django. King Django chats a storm over a
Westbound sound, as it were. I see "Architect" as this album's
"Reflections."
A great King Django song. Why's it on a Westbound album?
Wrapping it up is "One Day," a song I recently caught in concert,
with a
bridge not featured in the album. I think the song's lacking with out it,
but
still is a nice thought to leave on, and calls back to their mission
statement
- take the future one day at a time.
Out of 10 -
9.5
Manley
the DE Rude Boy
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