Vintage Guitar - September 2017 - open - 117

The Routes

Should Have Happened A Long Time Ago"
unfolds in cloud-like billows of arpeggios
(via Frisell's Collings semi-hollow), and
rich lines from both players. It's gorgeous
and complex.
"Wildwood Flower" is the kind of
country-jazz communion that Frisell has
explored before and, no question, this Carter
Family classic works as a jazz standard. The
closing crowd-pleaser is the theme from
James Bond's "Goldfinger," long popular
with the surf-guitar crowd. Here, Fris plays
it with a straight face and it's dead-on perfect
- much like the rest of this CD.
Dominic Miller, meanwhile, is best
known as Sting's guitarman, and this is his
first for ECM. There's nothing wrong with
the album - it's full of exquisitely recorded

In This Perfect Hell
Think old-school
Zombies crossed
w it h ne w-t h i ng
Arctic Monkeys: the
result may just be the
Routes. The guitar-bass-drum trio is part classic Brit invasion rockers with period-perfect
gear, part hypnotic proto psychedelia - yet with
a harder-core modern edge to their sound.
Guitarman Chris Jack fronts the band,
armed with an arsenal of Selmer amps and
Vox, Mosrite, and Fender Jaguar guitars. And
yes, the ensemble's voice is suitably enlivened
by plenty of enthusiastic fuzz.
The band is now back with its fifth album,
loaded with 10 originals and no covers or
fillers. The opener "Thousand Forgotten
Dreams" is a rocking sonic drone à la Velvet
Underground or the Jesus and Mary Chain.
It instantly transports you to another era.
"Peeling Face" may be quintessential
Routes. Riding the overdrive is a '60s-style
melody line, complete with chanted choruses
behind Jack's lead vocal.
And just when you think you've got the
Routes' number, check out their past albums,
with forays into R&B, garage-rock Americana,
and instrumentals. - Michael Dregni

The Routes'
Chris Jack.

Them Vibes
Electric Fever

instrumentals on acoustic - but
it's oddly sweet for the trailblazing label.
"Water" is charming, though perhaps too
close to New Age for its own good. Miller's
fine fingerstyle aside, the collection comes
off more as elegant background music than
anything truly compelling. - PP

Flamin'
Groovies

Chris Jack: Yoko Ono.

Live 1971 San
Francisco
Flamin' Groovies are best known
for the '76 powerpop gem "Shake Some Action," but this
show - recorded five years earlier at the
final Fillmore West concerts - couldn't be
more different. It's blunt three-chord rock,
somewhere between the Seeds, MC5, and the
Rolling Stones. The live tape's audio fidelity
is lo-fi and raw, but still it rocks.

Fronted by guitarists Cyril Jordan
and Ray Loney (who left soon after), the
set opens with a pummeling cover of The
Who's "I Can't Explain," while Chuck Berry's
"Sweet Little Rock 'n' Roller" is converted
into a punky rave-up, full of snarl and
chunky riffing. The joyous "Doctor Boogie"
speaks to '50s rockabilly and the Sun Sessions - all the more ironic as this Flamin'
Groovies gig came in post-psychedelic San
Francisco of the early '70s.
The 10-minute "Slow Death" sports
greasy and none-too-proficient slide guitar
(as well as a perfectly Neanderthal bass solo),
but it's right in the sloppy spirit of things.
Other covers include the frat anthem "Louie
Louie," "Walkin' The Dog," and another
Who nod, "Shakin' All Over," as well as
the controversial original "Teenage Head."
Call the Flamin' Groovies proto-punk or
garage rock, but this live shot is a raucous
rock and roll explosion. - Pete Prown

September 2017

117

Nashville band
Them Vibes latest
recalls rock's past
without sounding
dated or cliché.
Much of the reason for that is the guitar
work of Alex Haddad and Kyle Lewis. There's
no in-your-face playing, but there's plenty
of tasteful guitar work that forms the basis
for the 12 cuts on the record. And, when the
two lock up and play dual lines, as on the
melodic rock of "Who Do You Love," the
result is glorious.
The band is right at home with riff-based
tunes. "Shoot The Messenger" shows they've
learned all the best lessons from the past.
And the riffs on "Comin' Down On You"
provide proof that the melody is the thing.
"New Religion" shows off the band's affinity
for '60s rock, with its Beatles circa 1966 feel
from the guitars and the rhythm section.
Their acoustic side shines through on "Sha
La Loo Ya," which also features killer vocals
and harmonies. That's not a mistake as the
vocals of lead singer Brother Love and Haddad mix wonderfully throughout the record.

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