Posted on: December 29, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Dusty Rhodes and the River Band – First You Live / 2007 SideOneDummy / 13 Tracks / http://www.myspace.com/dustyrhodes / http://www.sideonedummy.com /

When I see the logo for SideOneDummy on a CD, I’m expecting some form of punk music to be assaulting my ears. This is not the desire of Dusty Rhodes and the River Band, as they provide a style of rock that is very linked into the overall sound and style of bands like The Rolling Stones and Wings rather than Rancid or Bad Religion. The one thing that Dusty Rhodes and the River Band share with the other bands on SideOneDummy is that they all have tremendous talent and work hard on creating music that shows off this talent in the best way. “First You Live” is the first full track on the disc and aside from linking together the disparate sounds of seventies rock, Dusty Rhodes and the River Band have enough time to throw in a little bit of Lucero-like anarcho-folk music before the track ends.

This Lucero type of rock music continues well into “Leaving Tennesee”, which sees the band drop much of the seventies influence as the amount of country influence that they adopt increases. The style of seventies rock comes back with a vengeance during “Ghost Trails”, but Dusty Rhodes and the River Band take another detour in their inclusion of a slower, meandering bit of folk music that would even get Devendra Banhart excited. Whatever style of music that Dusty Rhodes and the River Band end up playing during the confines of a track, one can be assured that the act will provide some of themost interesting stores in the track’s narrative.

Perhaps the best thing about “First You Live” has to be the modification of listener’s perception of time. A track like “Ghost Trails” is almost five minutes long and provides listeners with a quick-paced style that only sounds two or three minutes long. “Dear Honey” is another interesting track for Dusty Rhodes and the River Band, as there is a circus-like atmosphere that is adopted that adds a little bit more variation to the overall disc. This style continues through the end of “Dear Honey”, with the band switching back to the Mick Jagger-style of vocals for the short “Oh Icicle” that represents the end of the first half of the disc. What Dusty Rhodes and the River Band do on their “First You Live” is create a brand of party rock that could work in 1960 as well as it does in the current period.

Top Tracks: Dear Honey, Key To The Truck

Rating: 6.5/10

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