Listening to "Carousel" is listening to real music. It is music devoid of studio tricks that is made for one reason and one reason only: to give the listener a healthy dose of feel-good straight-ahead rock music. That is what I think the goal of the album is anyway, and if that is the goal, it succeeds at least in my opinion. This music takes me back to a time when talent, not Nike, sold records.

Beginning with the bouncy "She Don't Care," the album grabs the listener's attention and doesn't release its hold until the final chords of "Carousel" fade out. At times the sounds are familiar, but the music also sounds fresh and new. For example, you can hear a bit of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in "Rock And Roll Star" and "Let Me Be Lonely" sounds like something Elvis Costello might like to crank out live, but flashes of influence aside, this band puts their own stamp on all the songs.

Will Hoge is a talented songwriter, and he is backed by some pretty capable musicians: Tres Sasser on bass, Kirk Yoquelet (pronounced...um...well..I don't know..) on drums, and Dan Baird, formerly of Georgia Satellites, on lead guitar. (According to the info I received, Dan Baird has, I believe, since been replaced by Brian Layson, but if he hasn't we'll probably print this anyway.)

For the most part the album is full of flat out rockers - the kind of music people search bars in Austin looking for. There are a couple of slower numbers such as the poignant "Heartbreak Avenue," and the absolutely lovely title track, "Carousel," but on the whole this is an album that has the listener dancing and cranking their air guitar from note one.

Lyrically, Will Hoge knows how to let his words spin a story. The lyrics are catchy without being superfluous and unnecessary, and even when he borders on previously explored ideas he is able to give them his own quirky touch. In the song "Rock and Roll Star," which targets the recording industry a la Pink Floyd's "Have a Cigar" and others, he comes up with one of my favorite lyrics on the entire album: "So now we're living happy underneath the Sony tree...and I've got my big top ten record on W...K...G...something or other....bartender could I have another?"

Musically, as I said earlier, this is a straightforward rock album with the kind of sound that is honed by sweating in front of audiences on a nightly basis. The guitar riffs are clean and tight and the drums pound just enough to keep the listener's feet doing the same thing. If brand new music could be called classic rock, this would be what this album is. Whatever you want to call it, though, (perhaps neo-classic rock), this is a good fun crank-it-till-your-windows-rattle album that will be liked by anyone like me that refuses to admit that true rock is dead.