Monday, February 13, 2012

Howlin' Rain please stop

By the time Otis asked me if I'd review the new Howlin' Rain album Russian Wilds, I had already listened to it 3-4 times and pretty definitively decided that I didn't want to listen to it anymore. But I did, and it really didn't grow on me at all. It's too long. The tracks are too long. The solos are too long. The lyrics make no sense at all. It's a loving recreation of a kind of music that I hope never resurfaces...my (really pretty mean) review...

Howlin Rain
The Russian Wilds
(American)

The guitar solo is alive and well on Ethan Miller’s third album as Howlin’ Rain, a virtual reference book on classic rock styles of the 1970s, from Black Sabbath to Jimi Hendrix to Santana to Deep Purple and well beyond. If you hanker after the days when bands flew around in their own private jets, trailed by groupies and hangers on and A&R guys on the make, then The Russian Wilds is your kind of album. Beautifully played, immaculately recorded and bloated to the gills with 1970s album rock pretensions, it’s a throwback to a time that most people don’t remember very well (and few of those have any desire to revisit).

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