The Beat Farmers Heading North 53 N° 8° E Review by Gary Hill
This live album from the Beat Farmers is fun. Their brand of cow-punk is often funny. It's also hard rocking. It grooves and entertains. I had heard of these guys before, but this was my first time hearing them. I like what I heard.
This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2017 Volume 1 at lulu.com/strangesound.
Track by Track Review
Bigger Stones
This has a cool groove to it. It feels a bit like a cross between Elvis Costello and the Grateful Dead to me.
Big Big Man This rocker has more of an old school vibe to it. The energy is good, and the piece just works pretty well. It's a fun number. I dig the screaming hot instrumental section later in the tune.
Lucille The deep vocals on this old chestnut feel a bit over the top and tongue in cheek to me. Then again, it's cow-punk, and it's goofy.. The angry, foul languaged parts of this are cool. It earns a parental advisory for it, but that makes the song. Well, the powered up jam later doesn't hurt, either.
Happy Boy This has a lot more of that cow-punk sound. This feels a bit like Johnny Cash turned crazy comedy number. Instead of yodeling we get gargling.
Rosie There is a lot of funny stuff in this. They seem to be having fun on it. This is a ballad.
Dark Light Now, here we get a screaming hot rocker. It's a great counter-balance to the previous tune. There is a "secret message" in the middle of this. That section is funny and suitably weird.
Texas This is a killer hard rocker that works really. It's fun.
Blue Chevrolet I like this country boot kicker. It's a great tune that works really well. It has a lot of hard rock built into it along with plenty of country and blues.
Beat Generation Old school rock and roll, punk, metal and a lot more merge here. This is a lot fun. This thing is downright mean at times.
I Want You Too This short stomper is a lot of fun.
Hollywood Hills Screaming hot hard rock, this is fun stuff.
Never Goin' Back This isn't a huge change. It's just another hot hard rocker.
God Is Here Tonight I dig this rocker, too. It's again not a big change, but it works well.
Riverside Now, this comes in with a mellower sound. It's an alternative rocker that turns out some stomping hard rock. I like this tune a lot. In fact, it's one of my favorites here. The last song before the encores, as strong as this is, that was a great choice.
Deceiver This has plenty of retro rock and modern crunch in the mix. It's a fun stomper. They run it straight into the next tune.
Key to the World Here we get a hard edged, slow moving blues stomper. This gets a parental advisory.
California Kid This one gets a parental advisory, too. It's another hard rocking tune. It's fun stuff. They apparently left the stage again after this cut.
Led Zeppelin Medley: Black Dog / Whole Lotta Love / Immigrant Song With instrumentation provided by just voices, this is a funny take on bits from all three of those Zeppelin tunes. It's funny stuff.
You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover They bring this in with feedback. This old chestnut gets a fun rendition. It's a stomper that works well. They turn it out into a cool jam from there with some great bass work.
