Diamonds in the Rough: Diamonds in the Rough

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.