Asked to describe this new album, Canadian guitarist Tim Vaughn said: “It’s like Prince, Led Zeppelin, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix and Radiohead all met Los Lobos at a bar in “From Dusk Til’ Dawn,” and Jack White was playing there with Elvis Costello.” Thing is, as knee-slappingly over-the-top as that all sounds, Vaughn is kind of right about Read Between the Lines. The record has this mercurial ability to confound, as it at times sounds like a troubadour songwriter’s notebook, at others like a string-breaking guitar-god workout, at still others like an R&B set at a clap-trap southside dive. The foundation of it all, it seems, is the blues, but strapped to a wagon-wheel of finger-licking riffs, greasy funk, plaintive folkie lyrics and bird-flipping punk attitude. Yet, Vaughn — whose soulful then crisply energizing asides on the guitar are the wooden spoon stirring this crazy pot of musical gumbo — somehow makes it all work.
‘Half Notes’ are quick-take thoughts on music from Something Else! Reviews, presented whenever the mood strikes us.
[amazon_enhanced asin=”B005BNM74S” container=”” container_class=”” price=”All” background_color=”FFFFFF” link_color=”000000″ text_color=”0000FF” /]
- How Deep Cuts on ‘Music From Big Pink’ Underscore the Band’s Triumph - July 31, 2023
- How ‘Islands’ Signaled the Sad End of the Band’s Five-Man Edition - March 15, 2022
- The Band’s ‘Christmas Must Be Tonight’ Remains an Unjustly Overlooked Holiday Classic - December 25, 2016
