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Album Details

• Artist: The Damnwells
• Album: Bastards of the Beat
• Label: Red Ink/Sony
• Year of Release: 2004
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2005-01-05

I had big expectations for Bastards of the Beat after hearing PMR + 1 a couple years back. The Damnwells were quite quick to be scooped up with $$'s in the labels eyes. Did they deliver? Well, not quite what I was expecting but I think the execs were probably happy. Bastards of the Beat kicks off with a pretty hard rocker called "What You Get" with a "Jenny 867-5309" type of guitar going on. Then we dive over into the roots side of things with "Kiss Catastrophe", arguably the best track on the full-length. Another good track is "I'll Be Around". It's the closest they come to Ryan Adams/Wilco on the album but still manage to sound a little different. We get that Adams sound again on "I Will Keep The Bad Things From You", another really standout track. Does the track "Sleepsinging" bite. It almost has potential but how can someone think it's a good idea to have a chorus like "Like Sleepwalking I'm Sleepsinging". It almost sounds like it could be a shot at doing The Verve without the Brit accent. Then the track "The Sound" sounds like it could easily fit onto a Toad The Wet Sprocket album. It's a decent track with probably the poppiest sound on the album. They sort of copy that sound on "The Lost Complaint", a track that has the vocals layered on thick and is more in the rock territory than the Americana. It's a fine line between Matchbox 20 and Whiskeytown and The Damnwells manage to find the line to straddle. Definitely not a favorite but at times I found myself interested in what The Damnwells are doing. I will be watching what they do in the future though.

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