I woke up this morning at said to myself "why don't we get more Rickenbacker 12 string music?" Now, you'll think I'm making that up to provide a journalistic crutch for my review of an album featuring a Rickenbacker 12 string. But the truth is a bit sadder. I wake up many mornings asking myself that question. So the odds were good that when Seattle band Shake Some Action! released Full Fathom Five, I'd have the right lead in. Sometimes, you just get lucky.
Lucky, indeed! Shake Some Action! headman James Hall's 14-track self-release may well end up being the power pop album of the year. And while our panel of judges award James bonus points for a group named after a Flamin' Groovies song, I suspect that he won't need that boost. The touchstones are there for your ears: Echoes of the early The Who, George Harrison's 12 string for the Beatles, Roger's unforgettable work for The Byrds, and the Hoodoo Gurus from James' native Australia. But James doesn't just deliver the jangle, he has written some very good songs with strong melodies and memorable hooks. To demonstrate the quality, I picked four songs at random so you can evaluate the album for yourself. Enjoy!
You can stream the entirety of Full Fathom Five here. But your time might be better spent purchasing the album so you can take it with you wherever you go.
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Twitter ( @shakesomeaction )
1 comment:
The first Shakespeare poem I memorized. Fourth grade and from "The Tempest":
Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes;
Nothing of him that does fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:
Ding-dong,
Hark! Now I hear them – Ding-dong, bell.
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