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: : The Great
American Roadtrip : :
 Hectic
Watermelon is an American band, tributing with their album, The Great
American Roadtrip. I first got this album and was very impressed by the
cover. So I eagerly opened it and read the sleevenotes. In the first
page it says that the album and its songs are like ”postcards sent as
thank-you notes to teachers, gurus, musicians and friends who helped
inspire the music along the road”. The record is divided into three
parts, The Great American Road Trip, Subterranean Suite and Homeward
Travellers. The record is produced under Predator Fish, which is John
Czajkowski’s own registered BMI.
So I inserted it in my cd player, and pressed play. The first song is
obviously an intro, and it didn’t really give me the picture of the
whole album. I was thinking it would be hard for me as a non-American to
understand this album, and I have to admit, that after the drowsy, yet
expecting first impression, I heard the second song, obviously inspired
by now late James Brown, and my feelings were mixed. The second track
sounded as if played by a band, who are very creative, but still lack
the skill of playing together.
However, this feeling was soon to change. The third track on the album
brings out the best side of it. Suddenly one can hear the obvious Frank
Zappa influences in the music. In fact, the funky guitar strikes in the
beginning of the song, and suddenly it sounds very enjoyable. The
feeling one gets here is in the line with ” hey, this is quite good
after all”. And the next track doesn’t really change that.
I might go comparing this record or even this band on their first record
very much to bands such as Liquid Tension Experiment and Frank Zappa, in
fact, I’d say this is somekind of a mix between the two. Whereas they do
have the imagination of Zappa in many of the songs, all composed by John
Czajkowski by the way, they keep a modern, and often strong sound to it.
You can hear a lot of distortion used occasionally, and these men don’t
cut back on effects. At the same time it’s really hard to listen to
because, as one would imagine, the players are very skillful (I give
them that), and they know how to keep irregular time signatures in
order.Now one
listen to the first four and enter Subterranean Suite, ”…sometimes the
road becomes treacherous…” (quote from sleevenotes). At this point it’s
really noticeable, that the four first songs have been an introduction
to what’s coming. While they keep the funky, experimental style, they
tend to use strong riffs and powerful drumming even more. Though again
one realizes that on the 7th and 8th track, they’re leading us to the
final part. 7th, Layover in Hamement is a short piece, with somewhat
oriental sounds, and Stray Dogs Messaging Project doesn’t differ from it
a lot, but it gives the feeling that something huge is coming.
And it starts the third chapter with my personal favourite. A very
melodic piece, Steve’s Stunt Double. Must be because it’s very
comprehensible, and catchy, that many people would find it easy to like.
Twenty-first century Visigoth, the song before the last is practically
the only song on the album with singing. Actually it’s mostly scat
singing, but tells a story of how their music does not fit the modern
pop image, which is very true. One could imagine it referring to the
whole progressive trip through all the American bands that they just
played. The last song is skillful riffs and a great melody, but a bit
calmer than the rest, at least to my ears. It’s not an outro though, but
very much like LTE in their slow songs.
All in all, the rest of the record pretty much reverses the feeling that
the second track gives. And by time one learns to like the second track
too, but not as much as the others. To people who are not as motivated
in listening to this, it could be the thing that turns them away. So I
would have recommended that they leave the second for later, or for
listeners to start from track 3, but I won’t because that would not
bring out the whole picture of The Great American Roadtrip. Have to
admit though, this is one of the best American prog records I have
heard, and I have heard quite a lot. A bit annoying from time to time,
but the potential is there. On a scale from 1-5 I would give this album
a 4, but as we’re working on 1 to 10, it’ll drop it to 7, A great album
altogether, but still lacks the touch and sound of a classic or a
masterpiece. I recommend this to Zappa and LTE friends, but the rest of
you, proceed with caution, for this is mindblowing.
Rating: 7 (out of 10)
Reviewer: Tuomas Renvall
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: : Discography : :
The Great American
Roadtrip -2006 |
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