Guitarist and singer/songwriter Grady Crumpler, drummer Bill Eagen, and a host of various session players form the Shady Cats. Their 2006 debut album, Love Callin’, is an impressive collection of primarily pop/rock songs with a few other genres thrown in to boot. The songs, all written by Crumpler, have been cherry-picked by three different producers to be put onto the album. The result of this is a slightly mixed bag. Crumpler’s writing both lyrically and musically steers itself into a pop/rock/country vein, not so much the harder edged rock or even calypso sound that pops up on the album’s second half.
Despite some of the misses that occur on Love Callin’, when all the pieces of a song come together and coalesce, the end result is fantastic, so much so that they easily trump the shortcomings. It’s hard to fault an artist for wanting to branch out and try different things, but it’s evident when songs fully click and when they don’t on here. The perfect example is the song, “I Want Independence”, a jarring attempt at a rock song about breaking away from some sort of overbearing relationship. The music and main guitar riff sound angry, but Crumpler’s vocals and lyrics do not. Such a mismatch kills the song.
The problems with a song like that is magnified by there being two absolutely wonderful songs preceding and following it. “Lines” is possibly Crumpler’s best performance on the album all around. He rolls through a lyric about being on the road with the titular lines referring to the “lines on the road and on the mirror/hurry up and stop spinning your wheels/cuz the vision isn’t getting any clearer.” The music is firmly rooted in a Rascal Flatts form of country, though perhaps a more accurate comparison could be made to the Bon Jovi song, “Who Says You Can’t Go Home.” The guitar parts are spectacular, played in part by Mike Krause, from the riff to the solo that just grips the bridge and throws the song into its climax. When the track “Take Me” comes on, Crumpler’s rock-edge is far better honed. The lyrics are once again sleek and catchy, “stealing kisses on the sly/no one else could catch my eye”, the riff powerful, and the vocal performance perfectly suited for the song.
Avid music listeners can catch hints of inspiration from other bands sprinkled amongst the album. The closing song, “Desperation” bristles with a Tom Petty vibe and is a wonderful note to end on. Then there’s “All The Way”, the previously mentioned calypso themed track that sounds like a strange combination of Santana and Haircut 100. For that matter, the title track has a hook and chorus very similar to that of “Love Plus One”, the sole hit from Haircut 100. In the case of the former song, it really doesn’t work with the sound of the album. The latter song, however, is a wonderful start to the CD with a gnarling guitar riff and punchy hooks. Even on the tracks that don’t fully work, the musicianship is strong, and special credit should be given to drummer Bill Eagen for a consistently amazing job from start to finish. Crumpler too is a great guitarist but sometimes his writing is a bit too ambitious for what his style is.
That being said, when Crumpler is a bit more distant in a song that isn’t quite his style, things can still work. In the first half of the album, two songs come up with similarly kind of dark lyrics about losing one’s self to their darker emotions. The first is “Lost Myself”, the second, “In The Moment”. On “Lost Myself”, there’s certainly a catchy feeling to it, but the subject matter of the lyrics is rather misplaced amongst the catchy vocal harmonies and overall tone. “In The Moment” differs tremendously in that music producer Don Dixon (early R.E.M. most notably) sings the lead vocal. His voice carries the darkness necessary to push the meaning of the song, and it’s absolutely thrilling to listen to.
The Shady Cats have put together some amazingly strong songs on Love Callin’ and the strength of these songs almost entirely overshadow some of the album’s weaker moments. Given some more consistent songwriting and perhaps one consistent producer, it’s easy to envision this group putting out a fantastically stout collection of pop/rock/country songs. But for now, Crumpler has written an album of a good half-dozen wonderful pieces of music that make all of the eleven featured, more than worth while.
Review by Heath Andrews
