Pop Culture Gadabout | ||
Thursday, January 08, 2009 ( 1/08/2009 06:24:00 PM ) Bill S. ![]() Those 'hawks loyalists who prefer the group when Louris started steering the band toward a poppier direction may find this two man reunion a little too dour for their tastes, though the twosome do find the space on Flood for some jauntier tracks. "Chamberlain SD" is the disc's big rocker, and it's a damn fine one: a sinister description of dragging the Missouri River that makes its chorus exhortation -- "Chamberlain wants you" -- sound like an insistent invitation to Hell. "Bloody Hands" is a mandolin-sweetened jeremiad capped by a hooky cautionary refrain ("What the mind forgets, the soul retains"), while "Doves and Stones" makes particularly strong use of Louris' Wilbury-esque inclinations. It's arguably the closest Flood comes to the later Jayhawks sound. More typically, though, the duo works a slower, folksy tempo on their moody tales of loss and cruelly irreligious times. At their best -- the quietly urgent "When the Wind Comes Up" or the wistfully positive "Life's Warm Sheets," say -- these two sons of the Midwest temper their sermonizing proclivities with neatly detailed lyrics, strongly harmonic melodies and thoughtful strumming. At their weakest (as in the release's over-serious spoken word conclusion "The Trap's Been Set"), Olson & Louris get you missing the band who once thought it was a cool idea to include Grand Funk Railroad's "Bad Time" on a disc. Still, Flood's strong tracks outnumber its snoozers. "Where are the voices that cheer your days?" the two ask in their chorus to "Wood." Right on this disc, guys . . . Labels: folk-pop # | |
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