This is one of those discs that sat on my desk for a few weeks after I received it, mainly because I was so infatuated with the album cover that I didn’t want to put it over in the “finished” pile for fear that it would get covered up and I wouldn’t have an intellectual thought or two stemming from trying to decide what the hell the two kids in John Wayne costumes with a gun and knife are trying to do to me. The dragon in the background only added to the mystique of the CD; and I hadn’t even put the damn thing in the player yet!
This band should be in Rolling Stone. You know how they have a new band every week that you listen to and they change the way that you look at music? That’s Downtown Harvest! The music on Golden Dragon is so eclectic that it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what to say about it. It almost reminds me of a band like The Beatles, in the fact that they have so many different sounds that you can listen to their music over and over and never get bored. Madonna is another artist that does the same thing, although she does it in a different genre.
Whether you like video game rock (Killer Queen Bee, Something Elephants), 80s pop (Man of Mystery), hip hop (Michael Jordan) or even a grunge sound (Sinner), there is something on here for you. The sound is definitely unique (the first thing that I look for), as is the idea for the album, as the booklet is printed on the back of a menu to a Chinese takeout restaurant, supposedly the menu of the band’s favorite takeout place. It somehow fits perfectly, as you get the same Asian feeling from this CD as you get from The Killers’ Read My Mind.
Bobby Cahill (bass), Tommy Moore (vocals), Chris Wood (drums), and Frank Ewing (everything) are definitely an interesting group of guys, hailing from Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love. They play almost too well together for this to only be their second studio album, but I expect to hear more from them in the future.
