Monday, 1 December 2008

Review - Jeff Scheetz Band - Behind The Mask

Jeff Scheetz Band - Behind The Mask

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6 out of 10

It’s classic rock styling time. This time we head forth to the land of melodic hard rock with a talented man called Jeff Scheetz. I know what you’re thinking, Eric Clapton meets Lillian Axe. Or maybe not, that’s an odd combo for anyone to try and imagine. And yes, you’d be way off the beaten track if you thought that was what this LP sounds like.

So what does this sound like? Well a lot like the Lloyd Langton Group rocking on Free’s funky thumping bass, getting a bit of Satriani squealing solo wise, with some Doobie Brothers blues influence in for good measure. You can probably guess what it sounds like, soaked with rhythm, blues, whiskey and hard rock. I won’t bother to over work the rest of the description, that would be pointless. Yes this is a late night drinking album, with extra ice.

There are the downsides however. Some of the guitar and bass combos jar for the wrong reasons, the wrong scale or just a bad choice of notes. There’s also the tendency for the over stretched guitar solo here and there. Sure, this guys talented, but some of his indulgence needs to be cut back a bit on this release. Finally some of the tracks seem a bit thin in places. In reality this could have been sorted by adding an extra guitar to back things up a bit. It’s nothing that’s really major, but at the same time you can’t help but think ’this track should have had this’ or ’this part should have been shorter’ or ’how long is this going to take?’ That’s the thing that really upsets the whole album, it’s a good demonstration of hard rock but there’s always something that either makes the whole listening experience seem dragged out or not quite right. Listen to it enough and it feels like a bit of a chore.

It’s a release with all the potential to be a fantastic outing, ’Trippin’ being the highlight along with a cover of ’Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me’, but unfortunately timing and arrangement issues let it down a fair bit. Diehard fans of the genre only.

Listen: www.myspace.com/jeffscheetz

Tracklist:
1. Welcome Home
2. Behind The Mask
3. Spiny Norman
4. Killin’ Time
5. Like You Are Alive
6. Be My Friend
7. Trippin’
8. Marie
9. Hallelujah
10. Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On me
11. The World

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