Saturday, March 12, 2011

Review: Endless Boogie: Full House Head [C-]


Artist: Endless Boogie
Album: Full House Head
Released: January 2010
Label: No Quarter Records
Genre: jam band / blues-rock

Purchase Date: 5 Oct 2010
Format: mp3 files
Source: eMusic

I first heard of this Texas-based country-rock jam band on the Sound Opinions radio show. Back in August, Jim and Greg did one of their semi-regular "Buried Treasures" shows, in which they talk about some new releases that they really liked but hadn't caught the attention of other critics. (That's also where I first heard of Sweet Apple.)

As you might guess from their name, Endless Boogie is a jam band with a danceable beat. They meld Texas blues-rock with a jam band sensibility to craft very long, droning songs that are still kind of catchy. I really liked the excerpts that they played on Sound Opinions, and I found the 30-second snippets on the download sites appealing, so I bought the album.

While I can see that this band must be pretty fun live, this recording didn't do a lot for me. The guitar work is very good, and I liked the bluesy droning at first, but after a little while, it all starts to get monotonous. The songs are all very long, and I was looking forward to the end of many of them. I also wasn't a fan of the lead vocalist's style-- it's more of a growl than singing, which I found mildly unpleasant.

Sound Opinions called this album buried treasure, but I wish it had stayed lost.

Rating: C-



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