Opening up the album it sounds like the start of some Mariachi, before moving into almost a lounge act. A couple more songs in, and it still sounds like a lounge act. Like I'm at a bar in Vegas at 3 in the afternoon and this guy is singing on stage as all the drunks go crazy on 99 cent shrimp cocktail, and his job is to lull them all to sleep so they stop choosing the casino money. It's fine musically, but I want to feel the music in my bones; this is nap time music. The Old Man's Back Again has a nice groove, good bass line. He seems to run out words in a few of his songs, this one included, so he just starts scatting as the music fades out. Takes away from the song and I don't care for it. I don't mind a fade out from time to time, but this screams of "I don't know how to end a song". 4 out of the 10 songs end with some variation of "Bweee ba da dum dweedlee bee bumda Doo" as the music fades out. One time and I'd have been like, "That's an odd way to end a song". But 4 times? What the heck, man.

Born on the bayou: classic. Reminds me of every Vietnam War movie. Nice groove, bluesy, powerful voice. Bootleg: groove and bluesy, sounds very similar to born on the bayou Graveyard train: bluesier than first 2 songs, slower. Repetitive. Nice but not quite my cup of tea. Background music in a hipster coffee shop. Too long without much happening. Good golly miss Molly: Nice faster change of pace. Coney of Little Richard with a southern rock twist. Penthouse Pauper: Back to a bluesy feel with a bit of a swing feel. "Woe is me" lyrics, boohoo blues. Proud Mary: another classic, bluesy Southern Rock, nothing fancy, but fun and more upbeat. Good hook, easy memorable lyrics. Keep on Chooglin': I think their bass player forgot how to change notes. 4 minutes in and he hasn't played a different note, just the same quarter now over and over and over. Bluesy nice groove, but another one that just sounds like it belongs quietly playing in the background of a coffee shop. Too long of just a guitar jamming and noodling against a repetitive simple drum beat and bass line, with some harmonica. Update, it took 5 minutes until the bass player threw in a couple of extra notes, but he's already back to the quarter notes. The good songs feel too short, the less interesting ones seem to keep going on and on. Classic band, good background music maybe, but not going to be any kind of frequent listen for me. I need heavier guitar, and drums that kick your ass.

I just couldn't. Folksy jazzy blues, mostly acoustic singer-songwriter vibes. He's got a good voice but it's just not where I'm at musically. Nothing in here stood out to me and nothing made me want to keep listening. I gave each song a shot but... Welp.

The lead singer seems to be too tired to do his job. The music sounds like quintessential 90s alt rock. Uninspired, under-produced. Potential is there for the music, but the vocals... Nope.

The first song makes me think of a choir of monks, or perhaps background music in a fancy restaurant. This is followed up by poppy rock without any edge. Next the pace slows down again, with something that comes across as really boring. The lyrics are imaginative and painting a visual, but to what end? I don't want to listen to it long enough to figure out what he's going on about. Little Sister breaks out the violins which is a nice change, but there's no percussion, guitar, ... I don't know what's going on. This sounds like it belongs in the middle of a stage musical, but not as a standpoint song or anything. Wtf. Now this guy is saying he was just a girl when he loved his art teacher. What is going on? Is this a concept album? If so, what is the concept? This is like the musical equivalent of looking at a painting that is nothing but a blob of paint with scribbles and wondering what the fuck the artist was smoking, while a bunch of pretentious snobs rave about the artist's brilliance. Next we get a waltz... This album is all over the place. As someone looking for Rock albums, I'm completely lost and don't know what to make of this. Ok, now we get Gay Messiah. This is ok, but not great, but I applaud the lyrics. The remainder of the album just didn't do anything. Old Whores Diet made me do a double take at the name of the song, but it again did nothing for me. It was weird when it went into some kind of samba, but I just can't finish this out

First, this isn't my preferred genre. It's kind of like an ethereal poppy kind of indie rock ... Hard to pin a genre on it. But I don't hate it. Every song seems to have its own identity, they are well produced, and there's a lot going on to hear. This sounds like stuff you'd hear in a rom-com or coming-of-age movie. This won't see much play from me because it's just not my genre, but it's really not bad at all. I was intrigued to see that a song on a different album by this group had nearly a billion streams on Spotify, so I listened to that one too (Space Song). It could fit on this album seamlessly. And it got it's listens after going viral on TikTok and being featured on the show 'Wednesday', so the rom-com / coming-of-age comment wasn't far off the mark.

Opening up the album it sounds like the start of some Mariachi, before moving into almost a lounge act. A couple more songs in, and it still sounds like a lounge act. Like I'm at a bar in Vegas at 3 in the afternoon and this guy is singing on stage as all the drunks go crazy on 99 cent shrimp cocktail, and his job is to lull them all to sleep so they stop choosing the casino money. It's fine musically, but I want to feel the music in my bones; this is nap time music. The Old Man's Back Again has a nice groove, good bass line. He seems to run out words in a few of his songs, this one included, so he just starts scatting as the music fades out. Takes away from the song and I don't care for it. I don't mind a fade out from time to time, but this screams of "I don't know how to end a song". 4 out of the 10 songs end with some variation of "Bweee ba da dum dweedlee bee bumda Doo" as the music fades out. One time and I'd have been like, "That's an odd way to end a song". But 4 times? What the heck, man.

I expected more, but a lot of this just came across as noise, static, and banging on trash cans. The good songs are really good (Closer, Hurt), but the bad ones are quite bad. 3 stars on balance.

Lyrically good, vocally good, but instrumentally this does nothing for me

Eclectic, fun, but nothing that stood out to me