Happy Enough Song is the first track on Doug Prescott’s latest, “The Journey & The Deep Blue Sea”. This track blends equal part seventies rock, Americana, and even country.
This cross-over track even has time to include brass in its 2:36 runtime. Happy Enough Song is a microcosm of the styles and sounds broached during the entirety of this disc. Hideaway slows things up, linking together The Bellamy Brothers, Kansas, and Warren Zevon in a retro-infused but entirely contemporary effort. While Prescott’s vocals remain the centerpiece of the album, I feel that the instrumental interlude here is without comparison. Silence Speaks Volumes is another sea change for Prescott, with a reggae, funk, and ska sound immediately hitting listeners. The cherry on top of this sundae has to be the steel drums, which act as a perfect counterpoint to Prescott’s vocals. Every time that a listener puts on Silence Speaks Volumes, they will hear a different side to Prescott – a few spins of this cut yields hints of Frank Zappa and The Doors. The disc’s final track, Little Elvis & Fat Cat Eddie, is a frenetically-paced ball of energy that leads listeners into a frenzy. The horns heard at the beginning of the album add a nice punctuation to the ending.
The Journey &The Deep Blue Sea is one of the most eclectic titles that we have reviewed this year. Where albums that are this innovative typically have a diffuse (or an outright lack of) focus, I find that these 10 tracks are able to build a cohesive entity. Make sure to pick up a copy of Prescott’s album from his website and see him live whenever he comes to your town.
Top Tracks: Happy Enough Song, Let’s Get Wide Open
Rating: 8.5/10
Doug Prescott – The Journey &The Deep Blue Sea (CD) / 2012 Self / 10 Tracks / http://www.dougprescott.com/