So what does a classic rock fan listen nowadays ? Well , they either wander off to new genres or their music collection stops expanding , their music players stuck in a loop. Listening to records of Bruce Springsteen , Led Zeppelin , Thin Lizzy , Pink Floyd , Deep Purple, The Doors and many others.
Well, thankfully, the Dave Goddess Group brings life back to a dying genre with their album ‘Something New’! The Dave Goddess Group is a four piece act consisting of Dave Goddess on the vocals as well as the guitar . Tom Brobst is a multi – instrumentalist who plays the keyboard , saxophone , trumpet and the flute with equal finesse . The Bazylek brothers , Mark and Tom , take care of the rhythm section pretty damn good . Mark’s excellent bass playing is evident throughout the album and Tom’s tight drumming forms the backbone of the band , who shifts between high energy songs like ‘Something New’ and ballads like ‘The First Lie’ with ease .
The album begins with the title track ‘Something New’ which has a nice classic rock riff to begin the album with . The vocals are good and though Dave doesn’t have much variety in his vocal range , he manages to pull it off very well with his smart lyrics . Next up is a track named ‘Call Of The Wild’ . Guitar work is exemplary throughout the album and this song is a perfect example of that . Wah – wah guitar effects are thrown in along with guitar solos , which makes the listening experience so good. This song would sound great as a soundtrack of an Animal Planet documentary .
‘Sweet Miss Understanding’ : A single sentence conveying multiple meanings. This track is a typical classic rock song with keyboards forming the background rhythm section and a small guitar solo in the middle. Catchy rhythm section coupled with saxophone , trumpets and keyboards dominate the song. I knew I was gonna love this one just from the intro itself !
‘Lucky Guy’ stands out in the album due to the presence of a mid – section where only the drums and bass are present and a saxophone solo joins them . A groovy bassline dominates the song. Addition of trumpets is a pleasant surprise in 'It's about love'.
As the album progresses , it progresses towards the softer side of the musical spectrum . ‘The First Lie’ is a track on the mellower side of things . Violins and flutes also make their presence felt . The guitar solo is wonderful as well !
A single album featuring a variety of instruments alongside a traditional rock and roll setup is indeed so refreshing, and infact, so rare! ‘Love Over Blue’ is a perfect example of combining various instruments & still be able to retain the rock feel . Dave Goddess is a complete package of good vocals and guitar riffs. This is time and again evident in the album . ‘Better Man’ is a ballad about being sorry & promising to be a better man after a horrible mistake has been committed . The song ends with an amazing guitar solo .
The lyrics of ‘Cant Fight Sitting Down’ are aggressive , unlike all the other songs present in the album . The album finally ends with a song named ‘I Can Dream’ which is a nice track to finish the album .
Well, the members have perfect coordination throughout, and each of them is awesome on their respective instruments. Though, due to so many tracks in the album, I expected it to be less on variety, but I got just the opposite! Each song had 'something new' in it, and I was hooked on to it right till the end !
All in all , this album is your quintessential classic rock record . Though the album gets a little repetitive at times , in terms of structure and music , it is a statement that screams ‘classic rock is not dead’ . As long as bands like Dave Goddess Group are existing , classic rock is far from being dead . Go get it folks, Its indeed "Something New" !
Check out this video of rocker Dave Goddess talking briefly about the fight for relevance and the longing to create Something New.
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