| CD REVIEW The Gracious Few |
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Band : The Gracious Few Well, here's positive proof that even an experienced music journalist/ music lover will sometimes let his feelings about a new band be led by prejudice. You see, as I was due for a short “vacation”, I'd been gathering info from the Internet (I don't have a connection at home) before listening to The Gracious Few's self-titled debut, and what do I find out? That TGF is a new band started by former Live members Chad Taylor (guitar), Patrick Dahlheimer (bass) and Chad Gracey (drums)...and I was therefore expectinng the same type of commercial Pop Rock. When I first put on the album, I was at first so astounded by the rawness of the Heavy Blues Rock it displayed, that I went to check whether the editor-in-chief had not possibly perpetrated a switch during downloads. But, hell no...so I set myself onto checking the info a little closer. As it turns out, when Live went on what was originally dubbed a two-year hiatus in July 2009, Taylor had already proclaimed being utterly tired of playing guitar and wanting to focus his attention to a career of producing movies. But that was counting without the rhythm section of the band, whom already had gathered some new ideas for songs. Gracey would be relentless, recalling a time when the band would write raw, powerful music to alleviate their frustrations, and eventually Taylor conceded into joining Gracey and Dahlheimer in the latter's home rehearsal/ home recording space, lovingly called Spot. Within a few days, the trio had fine-tuned some of the material Taylor had pent up for some years, stuff which was too raw for Live, in which he'd poured his heart and feelings of anger and disillusion of what had been happening with his band before. Within no time, the trio had 6 demos on their hands, material with which they felt really comfortable, material for which '70s bands such as Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd and even Rolling Stones served as inspirational template. But now...whom would sing? Only one man came to Taylor's mind: longtime friend and Candlebox frontman Kevin Martin (with whom Taylor had worked as a drummer on a project he was producing). So, after putting the possibility to his bandmates, he made the call to a surprised Martin...whom didn't need a lot of convincing to fly over to Pennsylvania, get into the groove, and help the guys out in writing new material. Then, when Taylor confessed never having felt comfortable in the position of lead guitarist, it was Martin whom suggested his bandmate Sean Hennesy. The next day the latter was on a plane, and it only took the band a short time in rehearsal to know they had found their missing link. On a personal level things clicked perfectly, and on a musical level he was more than willing to participate on all levels. As Martin explains in the (rather long) info sheet that accompanies the promo download of the album: “With The Gracious Few we made a choice to write as a team. This was a first for me as I had always shouldered writing lyrics for my bands. I felt I could trust these guys and let them in on my process. I could feel that they had been holding back and were ready to break out. My role was to keep them on point and learn how to interact. They have a very guttural take on how to play music. They don't particularly know how to play or sound like anyone else. This meant that Sean and I had to find a way to compliment that sound while adding our musical and lyrical influence.” Further aiding the band in staying on their new musical path (and not steering towards a more comfortable style they had been successful with before), is long-time friend and mentor Jerry Harrison, whom was called in to produce the album. He'd already witnessed a couple of bands' break-ups from close-up (Talking Heads, Modern Lovers), knew from first-hand experience things aren't always easy, and so he could relate (in this case, even Martin was experiencing problems with Candlebox). He also felt very strong about the material this band came to him with, and knew that stepping out of their comfort zone could bring a positive change for everyone involved. To cut things short, the majority of the 12-song album (not counting the hidden track) was recorded “live” at the Sauselito (California) based Studio D, a place where Harrison had wanted them to record for a long time. To give people an idea of what the new band sounds like, the band posted three songs (including first single “Honest Man” which serves as a warning signal to those in power not to stand in the way of honest people's abilities to provide for themselves – a stringently socio-political stance for the band, seen the current situations in their country) at myspace.com/thegraciousfew. At (www.) thegraciousfew.com, you'll also find a couple of studio footage videos which may be interesting. Of course, those will hardly give a full picture of the band's diversified musical antics. There's a definite Reggae influence in the hidden track, and while Martin already has a very nice voice when singing in “normal” range, he comes close to a Robert Plant in those songs where he needs to put power in his voice and sings at a higher, almost heady but still comfortable, pitch. In essence, I was completely overwhelmed by this band's rawness...but don't let those words fool you into thinking they are just about having their pent-up emotions explode! There's indeed a couple of songs in which emotions of grief call for for a calmer approach: “Crying Time” was written to honour a friend whom took his own life, and then there's also the balladesque (acoustic guitars here) “The Rest Of You”. Personally, I'm a fan of the whole '70s Heavy Blues scene, and it is therefore almost natural for me to like the music this band makes. However, the songs are also so compellingly attractive (both from the standpoint of composition and performance) with their slight complexity/ melody balance, and you can't help feeling pulled into both music and lyrics from start to finish. Nay, this ain't no copy-cat stuff! This is heartfelt music from a bunch of musicians who believe in what they do, and have both the writing and instrumental capacities to make each song they write count! Absolute top album in my year-lists, I tells ya! 98/100 Tony. |
