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The Old Scratch Revival Singers
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Oh, Didn't He Ramble
XOXO Records
Release: 1/03/2006
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Rated:
Review by:
Tim Rousseau
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Everyone loves collectives. I'm no rebel, no reincarnated Thoreau living deliberately and picking tomatoes. I also love collectives. As much as I love large groups of people with common artistic goals and as ridiculous as the first sentence of this review is, I didn't care much for this record. It reminded me of something I would be forced to listen to in some hippie instructed college course on music appreciation. The songs have awful vocals and the instrumentation is sloppy. Whether this is on purpose or not is beyond me, but just the fact I have to question it makes me even more irritated. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to like this record, truly, I wanted to experience the same feeling I had the first time I heard Old Crow Medicine Show. The extreme sadness and joys of American Roots music, the heart of the struggle, the center of pain and transcendence when you stare into the afternoon sun; that's what I was looking for. I didn't find that in The Old Scratch Revival Singers. In all fairness, though, that wasn't their intention.
Oh, Didn't He Ramble dabbles in acoustical Americana only to explore a sort of sound that reminded me of being in a haunted house. I'm calling it "Midwestern Gothic." It's interesting, just not fun or entertaining… or compelling… or worth buying in a record store. I know I haven't cited specifics about the record, like naming individual tracks that stick out and are worth mentioning, or throwing some more super punchy wow adjectives at you. The truth is, I really don't care enough about this record to even want to, it bored me to sleep. The strength of this album lies in the moments where they take their horror bluegrass sound into a sort of corn fed, French Quarter funeral death march through the streets. Most of the time is spent sounding like a drunken Klezmer faction that somehow fell out of the bar mitzvah circuit. If you're looking for a shot of musical novocaine to numb the senses of all inspiration, pick this one up and waste away, baby. |
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