SpenniesCherry Poppin' Daddies - Rapid City Muscle Car
June 12th 2006 09:44
CHERRY POPPIN' DADDIES
Rapid City Muscle Car (1994)
Space Age Bachelor Pad Records
Produced by the Cherry Poppin' Daddies
Link to Amazon.com and audio samples
You might remember the Cherry Poppin' Daddies as that band who had the mid-90's swing revival hit "Zoot Suit Riot" and then promptly disappeared. Well, aside from providing a song for karaoke joints all over, they had recorded three albums previous to that era that are all quite different - RCMC being their sophomore effort.
I'm trying to think of a nice phrase to catagarize this album into, but listening to it is proving quite hard. To put it bluntly, the band is DIVERSE. There is swing, dabbles of ska, soul, psychadelic rock, funk, punk, metal, even vaudeville... let's just say it's an interesting mix that takes you all over.
It took me a while to get right into a lot of these songs. There are some tunes that are really catchy, like the upbeat swing of 'Ding-Dong Daddy of the D-Car Line' and rocky opener 'The Search' - however, songs such as 'Skyline Drive' and 'Equus' that are a little more down-beat were looked over initially, but I've recently discovered some excellent songwriting amongst the dark corners of the disc. I think that's basically what makes this album strong; the songs are written very, very well - these guys can tackle any genre and take it to town. That's not to say they are digging up cliche's and tacking them all on the same album. The musicianship is really quite interesting, the array of instruments that appear are mindboggling and they conjure up strange chord progressions, fantastic melodies and in turn, a bunch of songs that are easy to listen to, but offer long-term enjoyment. In short, you won't be sick of it after 10 spins.
Many fans regard frontman Steve Perry as some sort of a genius - I'm not sure how accurate that is, although he is a great lyricist, able to tell stories and actually explore unique subject matter. He also does a nice Sinatra on their cover of 'Come Back to Me.'
The more swing-flavoured songs from this album featured on the Zoot Suit Riot album/greatest hits, and I think they were also probably the strongest on that album too. It's just a shame that they will be remembered as a one-trick pony who were in the midst of a fad, as their early albums show a band who took on many different musical styles and wrote some excellent songs. I'm pretty sure the only place you would find this these days would be from Ebay or possibly Amazon. Keep an eye out for it if you are after something different, I'd recommend it to pretty much anyone with an open mind.
Rapid City Muscle Car (1994)
Space Age Bachelor Pad Records
Produced by the Cherry Poppin' Daddies
Link to Amazon.com and audio samples
I'm trying to think of a nice phrase to catagarize this album into, but listening to it is proving quite hard. To put it bluntly, the band is DIVERSE. There is swing, dabbles of ska, soul, psychadelic rock, funk, punk, metal, even vaudeville... let's just say it's an interesting mix that takes you all over.
It took me a while to get right into a lot of these songs. There are some tunes that are really catchy, like the upbeat swing of 'Ding-Dong Daddy of the D-Car Line' and rocky opener 'The Search' - however, songs such as 'Skyline Drive' and 'Equus' that are a little more down-beat were looked over initially, but I've recently discovered some excellent songwriting amongst the dark corners of the disc. I think that's basically what makes this album strong; the songs are written very, very well - these guys can tackle any genre and take it to town. That's not to say they are digging up cliche's and tacking them all on the same album. The musicianship is really quite interesting, the array of instruments that appear are mindboggling and they conjure up strange chord progressions, fantastic melodies and in turn, a bunch of songs that are easy to listen to, but offer long-term enjoyment. In short, you won't be sick of it after 10 spins.
Many fans regard frontman Steve Perry as some sort of a genius - I'm not sure how accurate that is, although he is a great lyricist, able to tell stories and actually explore unique subject matter. He also does a nice Sinatra on their cover of 'Come Back to Me.'
The more swing-flavoured songs from this album featured on the Zoot Suit Riot album/greatest hits, and I think they were also probably the strongest on that album too. It's just a shame that they will be remembered as a one-trick pony who were in the midst of a fad, as their early albums show a band who took on many different musical styles and wrote some excellent songs. I'm pretty sure the only place you would find this these days would be from Ebay or possibly Amazon. Keep an eye out for it if you are after something different, I'd recommend it to pretty much anyone with an open mind.
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