Okay, nobody's said anything about this, and I feel the need coming on..
I thought the "review" of One Riot One Ranger's "Side Tracks" in the latest
No Depression was unreasonably dismissive, especially in that parting
shot...
(I could use stronger language--but I'm known to like these guys from the
list and otherwise! So I'll contain myself.)
Okay, the review notes that these guys can sing... and even wrote a good
song or two, but I don't think that the damned with faint praise tone, that
" well OK, they are pleasant, aren't they? " tone is fair to a disc that
pulls off some difficult stuff in a more than listenable way--and played
even better.
(I might even agree that it's still proving tough on the new disc to get
the essence of this act we've seen live and kickin' on a recording--but
that's true also, I'd say, of Riders in the Sky, for instance--and a whole
lot of alt.country and roots rock.)
That crack "Ralph Stanley or the Bad Livers have nothing to fear from One
Riot One Ranger"..is mainly beside the point even if (and I wouldn't bet
on it) it intends to mean "traditional and punked bluegrass acts" ...since
I doubt very much that's the sweepstakes 1R1R entered...if any.
(or that the Bad Livers play bluegrass
punked or otherwise.)
But mostly, the crack is simply a bit of wiseass reviewer-ese and to heck
with it.
Barry M.
