Colour Revolt		Reggie and the Full Effect
Plunder, Beg, and Curse staggers out from a late night bar into the blinding heat of a Mississippi summer morning. It squints and shades its eyes as it rolls down the sidewalk avoiding the cracks in the concrete. It's going to be a hot one and luckily there's plenty of booze to sweat out. "Naked and Red" grooves with the passing morning traffic in a slow euphoric dance and is by far most reminiscent of anything from Colour Revolt's self titled debut EP. It's a strange lead-off track, not all that indicative of what's to follow. It finds its keys to an oversized convertible sedan and heads west out of town for a Friday morning drive through the countryside as more songs press on. Random pieces of of trash and dirt kick up off of the shoulder as the sedan speeds along through a part of the country that time has forgotten. The entire region has been engulfed in a serious drought and the grasses and shrubs are burnt as if from Sherman's march.		Mastermind and conductor of the Reggie and the Full Effect express James Dewees has a passion for Jack Daniels, dwarves, Manheim Steamroller and pigieons crapping on rednecks. He's a pretty funny dude. But on his fifth effort as Reggie and the Full Effect, Last Stop: Crappy Town James checks the jokes at the door and brings us a concept album centered around the New York City subway system. Crappy Town is Reggie's most straightforward release leaving Klaus of Common Denominator, Hungary Bear and British new waver Fluxuation waiting on the platform and the drunk guy at the Get Up Kids show begging on the streets above ground. You'll be filing this record closer to Coalesce than the Get Up Kids although you'll still be privy to a sprinkling of keyboard infused Reggie love songs. "E" is the first stop that will leave your eyes misty and your heart sputtering as James repeatedly pleads, "Don't throw me away" and asks "Where's that god damn wishing well, the one that sort of works.”

"Elegant View" almost runs out of gas on Highway 28 near Union Church but you sputter into a service station called Bob's or Cliff's or Boone's or something of the sorts. With $20  in the tank and a can of Tab in hand, the sedan lumbers westbound back onto the highway.
The afternoon sun approaches its height and the wind whips the hot chalky air around that can of great-tasting, one-calorie cola. "Swamp" is a dirty rumble across the gritty asphalt at a favorable pace. You'd be happy to pull over and jump into the water but its stagnant, very uninviting, and there are places to be.
"Shovel to the Ground" pushes the pedal closer to the floor and the Mississippi River approaches at a more favorable pace. But as "What Will Come of Us" saunters in and Jesse Coppenbarger sings "All them vultures circle me- like a ton of bricks might fall on me" there's a sense that something's wrong in the not-too-distant road to the west.
The 'check engine' light turns on as a wilting soybean crop flashes past on the right and this ambitious trip and record seem to be straying from the band's freshman effort.  Whereas the debut EP was a romp through a crisp stream, Stumble, Brag, and Curse is a slow summer day entrenched in an antebellum drought.
Not Colour Revolt's crown gem, but one worth owning, this is one haunting trip through Southern fuzz.

-Sean Rayford

Comments

Add New Search

Write comment
Name:
Email:	do not notifynotify
Website:
Title:
UBBCode:	-color-aquablackbluefuchsiagraygreenlimemaroonnavyolivepurpleredsilvertealwhiteyellow -size-tinysmallmediumlargehuge
	Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.

Powered by !JoomlaComment 3.25

3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

---