This set comes from a southern California outfit. I have to say that I'm probably not the chosen audience for this. I say that because these guys get some great reviews, but I nearly passed on reviewing it because I wasn't sure I could do a positive review. Ultimately, I  decided that while there were some songs that almost completely failed for me, and as a whole it's not completely effective even without those, ultimately there are a few exceptional tunes that make it all worth it, Besides, a lot of people don't listen to albums as a whole, but rather one song at a time these days. This would definitely work better for those type listeners.

I think the first few songs are the highlights here. They just seem to work the best. Some of the later songs have some problems in the vocal department. There is also a real tendency toward a monolithic sound. Even one of the charms of the set gets a little tedious at times. That charm is the guitar lines that are nearly ever present. I remember someone telling me years ago that the Grateful Dead was all about constant, "plink, plink, plink" guitar from Jerry Garcia. While I disagreed with that being a detriment, I could see the point. There is a real same quality to the guitar fills here. It's to the point where, while it really works well on each song, by the end it just feels overdone and a bit tedious.

So, let me just say that there are a few songs here that are easily in the "worth the price of admission" category. There are a couple I'd skip completely, but your mileage may vary. Beyond that, this probably works better song by song than it does as a set. It definitely has its charms, though.

This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2021  Volume 1. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2021.