Hello Readers,
We are entering the holiday season and all it contains: the gathering of friends and family (in spirit or in person), the exchange of gifts, the food (all the turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes , punk’n pie….I mean PUNK’N pie….DAMMIT…What’s going on here…I try to type pum…PUNK’N…and I can’t seem to spell it the way the good people at Webster’s suggest I should….). I guess that’s because I found another reason to be thankful this season, for having a friend like Gary Forney that sent me a copy of his and his son Josh’s groups’ latest CD entitled “Punk’n.” I am further thankful for the God-given abilities to hear, read, type and review the album. I shall be reviewing this album on an “as listen basis,” so try to keep up with the flow of information.
SURGEON MAJOR’S* WARNING: DO NOT REVIEW THIS CD UNLESS YOU’RE PREPARED TO ROCK!
the Surgeon General is out back coughing down a Marlboro after drinking tainted Chinese milk from a lead bottle, so I’m subbing…
I have just put the CD into the player….and here’s the review….
Track One: Mojo Bone
Oh, did I mention this album is LIVE? Great acoustics are on display here! An intro, a warm and enthusiastic greeting……aaaaaand ROCK!!!! Josh’s guitar-work is on rockin’ on this one, Gary’s voice kicks in strong with Doc Rhythm providing the best in drum beats…This track is a bluesy-punk-rockin’ extravaganza of acoustic brilliance! Applause and….
Track Two: Amelia…
…psychedelically motions you forth into the cosmic cavalcade of audio bliss…Tripped out flanging of precision guitar-work makes all of us that wish to rock jealous enough to order one of those guitars from that Estaban guy on TV…Doc Rhythm tries to rock as cool as Josh’s guitar and falls short of the glory…yet does an accurate job timing-wise…WOW! Amelia fades out like a passing drag racer of the subconscious mind into sectors unknown….
bringing forth…
Track Three: The Pirate Song
Welcome to the realm of rockin’ tambourine dreams, where the seas are rough like Josh’s riffs and Gary’s vocal delivery…Raw, unadulterated punk-rockin, indy-spirited audio awesomeness…The kind of music the whole neighborhood would call the cops on if it blared from a nearby garage, while at the same time noddin’ their heads in rhythm to the beat…and when the cops come, they beg for autographs rather than issuing tickets…Mr.
Tambourine Man ain’t got shit on Gary Forney! The audience is blown away…but they ain’t heard nothin’ yet…
Track Four: The Quest
Ghosts swirl in the room, the spirit of Jim Morrison sits at the bar….
impressed! A tripped-out backing track looms behind powerfully-delivered poetry…Long, drifting guitar riffs slip and slide through the delivered lyrics, the Doc thumps away, lost in the flow, yet perfectly paced…”With broken wings, we fall from dark skies…” The audience is hypnotized by the Punk’n magic, ready to travel further into their realm of rock…
Track Five: Down at The Crossroads
…and the whistle sounds…Harmonica actually…Punk’n takes us on a journey, some spot on the musical map where blues, punk, indy, and fully unique content meet…Gary invokes the spirits of the roots of all modern music, those blues artists that birthed rock-n-roll and all its cousins…”Down at The Crossroads” would make the fore-fathers of modern music proud…The journey continues…Which path does Punk’n now take?
Track Six: Whole Lotta Hard Luck
Punk’n chooses to stand in the center of the “cross-roads,” summoning the “four-winds” of musical styling forward into a collective mix of sonic mastery. The guitar utters that badass twang that lets you know not to fuck with it, the kind of tone that backs a bloody bar fight in a smoky locale you’d be better off staying cool in…Gary hauntingly chimes in with vocals that reflect the vibe that he’s damn well had it with the variety of “luck” he’s been dealt in life…The breaks in the song operate like a sonic stomping to the head of anyone that steps in the way of the rocking…The audience is now completely on board…and the blues-punk-indy-rock continues….
Track Seven: Hard Rain Comin’
Rough edged blues cuts through the air of the bar, growing rougher and more thuggish as Josh lets his guitar speak for him…Gary’s voice mesmerizes, perfectly meshed into the roughness of the guitar riffs…The tambourine leaves more innocent arenas to enter the realm of pure uncut jagged-edged rockin’ blues with a punk-indy feel....and it ain’t goin’ back to the carolers on the street corner…
Track Eight: Mojo Bone (reprise)
Like book-ending of a series of epic novels, Punk’n concludes their set with what they started with, a sonic expression of where this group is and stands today (in my opinion)…as a FORCE of individuality and originality in a time where people have dumbed-down to the point where they probably can’t even define either phrase…Realities such as that aside, the closing copy of “Mojo Bone” feels stronger than the intro copy, like a victory anthem rather than a mere welcoming of the audience into the realm of Punk’n. This is a realm that anyone and everyone (that has experienced it) can testify is a place in music we can all be thankful for…Talent, creativity, an individualistic spirit, and the bravery and confidence to share these other traits with the surrounding world, are all components that advance art and help it evolve….Punk’n is timeless...a collective time capsule on one hand (bringing in elements of past musical greatness) while on the other being a very cutting edge collective!
As the CD starts over, I reflect a little here…If you have EVER enjoyed a good night of drinking and live music, you will LOVE this CD…If you have EVER found yourself bored or sick of the currently mass-produced, cookie-cutter music scene…you will LOVE this CD…This year, around the Thanksgiving table, tell ‘em to pass the “Punk’n!” Say “Merry Christmas” with “Punk’n” and rock in the ’09 with “Punk’n” kind…
Now, you’re all hyped and like, “How the hell do I get this CD anyway?”
Here’s how: Go here: http://cdbaby.com/cd/punkn
Order copies for ALL of your friends, kin and enemies or Santa will hate you eternally!
Other, more ignorant souls might be like, “Who ARE these people?” (in their WORST Seinfeld-impersonation styling).
Well, Jerry wanna-be, check this out and get schooled:
http://www. punkn. org/index.htm
Thanks for reading and Happy Holidays!
Tony Downs
