Greg Cartwright
sums up his approach on the third album from
the Reigning Sound
with the title,
Too Much Guitar
-- here,
Cartwright
moves the old-school
soul
influences that were in the forefront on
Break Up Break Down
and
Time Bomb High School
to the back burner in favor of a hip-shakin' set of loud and primal guitar-based
rock & roll
. While
's passion for
R&B
is still prominent in these songs (and their performances), here it manifests itself in a set of tunes that take
Stones
/
Pretties
-style raunch and filters it through '60s
garage rock
bashing in the manner of
the Sonics
or
the Misunderstood
. In short, this thing goes bash, pound, bash through 14 high-impact cuts, and
's passionate vocals jockey for position against his revved-up guitar bashing, while bassist
Jeremy Scott
and drummer
Greg Roberson
flail away for all their worth in support.
also reaffirms his status here as one of the best songwriters in the nuevo
garage
scene on
-- while the performances may value impact over nuance, the songs are smart, soulful, and emotionally powerful, and the lyrics speak of a maturity that's a far (and welcome) cry from the cars'n'girls blatherings of most new
outfits. While some fans might miss some of the soulful undercurrents that made
so memorable, if you want to hear
rock on out, then this album will convince you that
is never enough. ~ Mark Deming