keepers-2
keeper avg-.154
I had a hard time getting into it. Giving up a prime element of their band's sound is a bold choice, but what remains isn't as interesting. The title song and "The Line" are actually the only tracks to prominently feature electric guitar as is more typical for BMRC sound, though they aren't the best tracks here. "Shuffle Your Feet" highlights vocals rather than instrumentation straightaway, producing a simulated campfire jam with studio magic. "Devil's Waitin'" is a pretty acoustic highland ballad, so unlike "Ain't No Easy Way" and "Complicated Situation" it doesn't resemble Poison unplugged. The album does try to explore the possibilities of an album with limited electric guitar. "Fault Line" and "Restless Sinner"**** are the album's murder ballads, at least sonically, and "Promise" and honestly named "Gospel Song" explore that form, the latter via the Rolling Stones."Still Suspicion Holds You Tight"**** has a more sophisticated melodic tone than most, and "Sympathetic Noose" at least has an unoriginal but infectious riff, though the drums sound electronic. They may have shed one of the trappings of a big rock band, but the album is still heavily produced, meaning that the production itself is a major factor in failing to create a soundscape interesting enough to make the well-executed but generic material sound particularly original.
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