Since the revival of rock music that was lorded over by Swedish bands like the Hellacopters and Gluecifer, and more famously in the States with The Strokes and The White Stripes, all sorts of bands have worked their way out of their lo-fi sound and tried to grab for the brass ring. The Lot Six is a band that tries to go for this down and dirty rock sound, and makes an album that is utterly forgettable. This is not to say that all the tracks on the disc are sub-par, but that there are very few bright spots to be found on this disc. At their best , The Lot Six are a band that rides the laurels of bands like the Rolling Stones (Go to Sleep) and at worst are purveyors of uninspired rock music (No Ufo’s). What really is a bright part on the disc is the direct Police rip-off track, “Ol’ Capitola”. Well, when I say Police rip-off, the second-wave ska guitars and bass of Synchronicity mix with the Sting of the earliest days of the band.
Like the bevy of post-grunge bands to try to capitalize on what was deemed the “Seattle” sound in the early nineties, there are a lot of sub-par bands teying to be the next rock all-stars. The Lot Six try their hardest with this, “Major Fables”, and really fall on their faces. The energy is there, the soul is there, but the key ingredient for making this album memorable : the honesty and the soul. “Major Fables” is perfectly recorded, but I really wonder whether they over-produced this hunk of plastic. I don’t see any personality in this disc, just a bunch of perfect sounding guitar riffs, bass lines, and drum beats that could be made by hundreds of faceless wonders.
Still, I can see where all sorts of individuals will pick up this album and hail it as an amazing release. I just don’t see anything that is remotely innovative, or to go even farther, that is not ultimately derivative. Tracks like the chaotic “Out of Control” are radio-fodder, and the track is absolutely wonderful on the ears. The band is not afraid to try to tackle other styles, along with an “Tuesdays Gone”-tyle track in “My Baby’s Gone”, a trait that does tend to distinguish themselves from a number of bands, but most songs on the disc are still the paint-by-the-numbers new rock we have come to expect from most new bands that are getting media pushes.
Rating: 4.4/10
Top Tracks : I Get So Down, Ol’ Capitola
The Lot Six – Major Fables / 2003 Tarantulas Records / 10 Tracks / http://www.thelotsix.com / http://www.tarantulasrecords.com / Released 17 February 2004 / Reviewed 26 January 2004