TWOFER: the Riverboat Gambles x the Knotwells
Blood River Melodies
(Self Released, 2005)
When I went to Record Revolution in Cleveland Heights to trade this cd in and in turn get Cannonball Adderly’s Mercy, Mercy, Mercy, I described The Knotwells to the gentleman behind the counter as musically superior to The Dropkick Murphys or Flogging Molly axis of punk, but not as good at writing songs. And that’s pretty fair. Even as the Knotwells champions its country roots over the Irish ones, the later is more readily apparent musically. Now, I’ve been accused of being a snob and I can’t say that that claim is unwarranted, but I do like my fair share of dumb punk. This however, is just not all that imaginative. Each track begins with a more than promising hillbilly style musical intro. Unfortunately, the singer eventually takes over and its kinda downhill after that. There’re no instrumentals on this album, but the band would benefit from a few, if that’s any indication of their front man’s ability to croon. The song writing, much like the singing, seems like a little something is lacking. A chorus gives us the proof in the couplet, “I wrote you a little song/and this is how it goes.” Really, there aren’t any total losers, but each track sounds pretty much like the last and the singer managers to slip in a “hep” or a “hey” during every song. If these guys stuck to country music, muzzled the singer and toured wearing matching cowboy hats, you might hear from ‘em again. Otherwise, don’t count on it. Really.
