Jim Keller: Soul Candy

Heavy on the druggy side: Better than anything Tom Petty could write nowadays.

Fedora-hat Americana-rock from one of the evil Tommy Tutone bastards responsible for "867-5309," thus it's even more remarkable that I find myself recommending it.

But yet, if this heartland-hoedown stuff had been sung by almost anyone else it wouldn't have worked -- Keller's voice can only be described one way, that being a cross between Duane Allman and Bruce Springsteen, heavy on the druggy side, giving the overall impression of a good singer who's too wasted/oversexed/cool to be affected by reviews or reviewers, which would be too bad, because, like I said, I usually beat Peavey-powered bar-band jamouts like this stuff like a redheaded stepchild.

Kicking off the droned-down Huey Lewis rock proceedings, "Meltdown" is better than anything Tom Petty could write nowadays, put it that way; nice squishy percussion sample (Corporate Rocker Discovers Weird Layering! Film At 11!) in the not-overly-obviously Velvet Underground-inspired "Sweet Lorraine," Otis Redding breeze in "Julianne".

By Eric Saeger

Homepage: Jim Keller