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Artist |
Pennywise |
| Title |
Land of the Free? |
| Label |
Epitaph |
| Reviewer |
Richard Proplesch |
| Rating |
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I didn't know much --- actually, I didn't know anything -
-- about 3rd Degree
when I cracked the cello on RADIO 7 and slipped the CD
in. I had a couple of
ill-conceived, preconceived notions about them, true; I
thought they might be
a soul group, or something like that, because there was
a group called the
Three Degrees of that style that had a hit record out
before you were
probably even born (ask your parents; maybe even your
grandparents); I also
thought they might be one of those club DJs or
something, because of the
RADIO 7 moniker. So now you see how my mind works. Or
not. What issued forth
from my CD player, however, was none of the above. For
3rd Degree, you see,
is power pop. Really good power pop
RADIO 7 is an amazingly strong, confident, CD. These
guys, all from disparate
backgrounds and areas, are now based in Denver, better
heretofore known for
football and a crappy airport than for their music
scene. No matter; with 3rd
Degree out on tour all over the diddle-damn place laying
down their
incredible chops, that is going to change in a hurry.
Power pop seems to run in cycles. Lots of it in
the '60s. The Shoes in the
late '70s-early '80s. Matthew Sweet, late '80s -
early '90s and beyond, God
bless him. And now, 3rd Degree. Harmonies (they even do
rounds, for
chrissakes, on "Everything You Say"), dynamics, chord
changes, and actual
songs, with beginnings, middles and endings. There's 11
of 'em, and from
"Leave Yourself Behind" to "Anyway I" there's not a bad
song in the bunch,
not a wasted minute, no superfluous padding to fill out
the CD, no filler, no
wimpy ballads: just great, great songs. When you put
this one on in your car,
you won't have to worry about wrecking while you're
fumbling for the Skip
button. You can also have fun playing Spot the Influence
("The Girl that Ran
Away" weaves its way through multiple Beatles song,
including "For No One,"
"Strawberry Fields Forever, " and "She Said She Said").
But 3rd Degree isn't
a group of guys with some great songs and no talent.
This is a BAND; each
member has their thing down right, and RADIO 7 doesn't
sound like one of
those three-chords-and-a-cloud-of-dust affairs, with
each instrument being
played from a separate soundproof booth, with no one
knowing what the others
are doing. The recording on this bad boy is first rate,
as well, mixed just
right so that even when there is a lot going on it
doesn't sound like a
jumble.
RADIO 7 sounds great, and it sounds great in the way
that makes you just know
that you're going to be playing it 20 years from now and
it'll sound just as
good. 3rd Degree may not break any new musical ground on
RADIO 7, but they'll
sure make you appreciate, over and over, that well-
traveled stretch of
musical road they're taking you on. Very highly
recommended.
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© 2001 AMZ/music-reviewer.com
Robert R. Lewis
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