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April
1995 | St Paul Press
Scud
Mountain Boys,"Dance the Night Away"(Chunk). As the anti-country thing
goes from grass roots to greenbacks,expect a glut of pretenders to rear
their ugly fiddles in the coming months. But this Massachusetts bunch
is the real deal, and their debut CD is a timeless, gorgeous batch of
sweet, straightforward ballads that owes less to the Jayhawks, Wilco or
Palace Brothers and more to "Sister Goldenhair"-era America.
April
1995 | CMJ
JACKPOT!
Scud Mountain Boys Dance the Night Away Chunk P.O.
Box 244, Easthampton, MA 01027 413-586-6767 With an ear for traditional
music embellishments scrummed acoustic guitars, lap steel and mandolin-Northhampton,
Massachusettes 'Scud Mountain Boys craft songs that are more dreamy than
they are country. The sparse instrumentation emphasizes the band's vocals
and it's carefully crafted songs. While the tempered quietude at first
makes the arrangements seem placid, a more scrutinized listening reveals
their depth and precision; as with Galaxie 500 orr even the narcotically-paced
songs of Low, there's more lurking under the surface than what's immediate
apparent. The Boys' smooth vocals follow a similiar pattern-impassioned,
certainly but never feverde, or even braking a sweat. While this description
may sound like of Will "Palace" Oldham's latest adventure, it's not nearly
as spooky or gothic as than instead the Scud Mountain Boys debut paints
dreary pictures in warm colors, their well-nourished blood filing out
details of songs such of "Fright of Fire" Peter Graves Anatomy "Silo"
and "Sweet Sally"
Lydia Anderson
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