Scotland Barr & The Slow Drags - All The Great Aviators Agree Reveiw
Posted by Scott Rutherford on 07.30.2008
A tasty first treat from these country-fried rockers
I have to admit that I don’t know much about Scotland Barr & The Slow Drags. As with most “review copy” discs one gets for 411, you sometimes just look at a CD by name and title and try to guess what you are in for when you eventually get to listen to it. I have to admit, with a name like The Slow Drags and an album title All The Great Aviators Agree I was hoping to get something that made me think of Americana and homespun tales off love and life in the heartland.
The first thing you notice about this album is that singer Barr sounds like the real deal. A perfect blend of Waits/Dylan like gruffness but with more of a focus on melody, you are drawn into his tales of…you guessed it…love and life in the heartland. Heartbreak seems to be the main topic of concern on this set but instead of typical “she left me, I cry into my beer” type lyrics that say Hootie & The Blowfish would give you, we get Springsteen-like tales of a hobo in a train yard protecting the blanket of his love (“Mexican Blanket”), who has been dead for two years with such a zeal that he kills three men in its defense, marking the line in the sand with the lyric…
But sometimes as simple as helping man define/The difference between what is theirs and what is mine
...it’s nice, simple and direct.
Musically you could throw a bunch of genre tags as The Slow Drags and you’ll find some traction. Country, rock, bluegrass, rockabilly, blues, gospel, Mexican horns, they all get a shot in the musical soup. Add in some great harmonies and you get something that sits comfortably along side your Tom Petty or Eagles records.
Now before you start jumping on iTunes I must give you the downside of this set.
Firstly, while Barr does have some great lyrical moments invoking memories of great American-style storytelling, he can overplay his hand and become to earnest, which follows with a nasty flinch/cringe from this reviewer. Most of these occasions happen when he’s going for more imagery than storytelling. He’s good at one and not the other.
Secondly, he sounds like he forgot his happy pills some days. While I love songs that lament the passing of a relationship, Barr must have had a right shit of a time for a while. When he breaks out of that mind-set and throws up something different, both the band and Barr himself seem to grab onto the melodies better and make them soar.
The final thing is production. Hardly the fault of the band, I would guess this album was recorded on a lower than average budget and while this band can transcend the sound they have on occasion, I feel that with a bigger budget and more time playing with sounds and getting the production right would have lifted this album substantially.
Now back to the positives, this album does have a lot to like. The playing itself is first class. Far from being programmed robots, the Slow Drags give Barr an adventurous sonic palette to play off whether you talking about the layered gang harmonies at the end of “Juanita”, the slide guitar flourishes of “She’s Happy”, the superbly tight drumming of Nick Kostenborder that locks every groove into place and some great southern rock guitar solos by Zach Hinkleman dust the more up-tempo nicely.
The album standout however is “Heart of Rome”, everything about this song works. From the playing, the sound and the lyrics, Barr & The Slow Dregs distiller all the good things into a package that evokes real emotion.
The 411: If you dig your music with a homespun fell then this is for you. While nothing original it does contain that spark that may see them garner wider appeal within the country market and to lovers of classic Eagles and The Heartbreakers. Although this album isn’t quite there, I have no doubt with some serious touring these Drags will be in name only in time to come
