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Diamonds in the Rough

Diamonds in the Rough

(Gravitation; US: 7 Jun 2006; UK: Available as import)

The Soundtrack of Our Lives are working on new material, so this will have to do until the next time that big teddy bear Ebbot, his tunic, and his friends comes to your town. The side project of TSOOL’s guitarist Ian Person is another retro rock romp that makes you envision him doing his high leg kicks while others look on. Not straying too far from the Soundtrack of Our Lives style or tone, Person finds a comfort zone with the heady instrumental “C’mon In” and the poppy “Spiders”, which sounds like the greatest song Sloan never created. Person is content doing what he does best on the catchy, feel good pop-rock of the title track, and the equally enjoyable, punchy “Heavy Weather”. Even when Person slows things down with the roots-y “Miss Elusive”, it comes out quite nicely. A lot of ‘60s rock bands are brought to mind with this album, particularly through sweet folk pop nuggets like “Make You Mine”. And other times he opts for short but fine instrumentals, like the Spanish-tinged “The Delivery” and the spacey “The Barbecue”. The homestretch doesn’t stray from the format, with the lighter, wistful and early Floyd-ian “All I Want Is You” being a surprise.

Rating:

Originally from Cape Breton, MacNeil is currently writing for the Toronto Sun as well as other publications, including All Music Guide, Billboard.com, NME.com, Country Standard Time, Skope Magazine, Chart Magazine, Glide, Ft. Myers Magazine and Celtic Heritage. A graduate of the University of King's College, MacNeil currently resides in Toronto. He has interviewed hundreds of acts ranging from Metallica and AC/DC to Daniel Lanois and Smokey Robinson. MacNeil (modestly referred to as King J to friends), a diehard Philadelphia Flyers fan, has seen the Rolling Stones in a club setting, thereby knowing he will rest in peace at some point down the road. Oh, and he writes for PopMatters.com.


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