Rating:
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A while back I posted a song from the group called Free Energy, the song being "Free Energy". It had that early 70s power pop rock sound down cold, like Big Star. Well, I liked the song enough to get the whole CD. And in a way that at once meets expectations and disappoints, Free Energy slugs through early 70s rock cliches with abandon.
The first three songs on the album Stuck On Nothing are winners: The cowbell driven "Free Energy" song is great stuff, all urgent with guitars that surge with power and then swirl like electric fireflies (geez, what am I on?). Track two is a rewrite of "Spirit In The Sky" named "Dream City" which would be insulting yet because this is a 70s pastiche band anyway it gets a pass. Things pick up again on the bopping "Bang Pop" with it's jerky beat and catchy onomatopoetic hook. Then...then...the album gets to be a bit of a snooze. The remaining seven songs go by almost anonymously, though a bit of guitar or melody will catch my ear from time to time. At least "Light Love" generates some pop rock heat and it's hard to miss the horn laden closer "Wild Winds".
I had high hopes for Free Energy and as a concept I still like them, they just need the songs to back their ideas up.
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