Chicago folk rocker Michael McDermott has been compared to everyone from Springsteen to Dylan over past 18 years that he’s been bumming around small clubs across the country.
Really? Aside from a few borrowed vocal tricks from the Boss and some obvious swiped song themes from both legends, there really is no logical reason McDermott should be brought up in the same sentence as those two. On Hey La, Hey, his sixth album, McDermott puts 11 (if you count the fact the two different versions of “So I Am†on this record) mostly mediocre roots rock tacks to tape and calls it a day. He seems nearly as bored singing these songs as I am listening to them. There are one or two promising songs on the album (specifically the title track), but the rest sound like retreads from other artists. I have a suspicion the BoDeans may have had a garage sale and pawned off some of their weaker songs.
Rating: 6.2 out of 10
Top track: “Hey La, Heyâ€
Michael McDermott – Hey La, Hey/CD/11 tracks/2009/Pauper Sky/www.myspace.com/michaelmcdermott