Reviews

This Bostonian seven-piece brings soul, blues and ska to the forefront for their debut on Hellcat. With two previous releases on Megalith, Transitions marks as the title would suggest a change within their music and the parting of ways with a core member of the group. With this release being on Hellcat, my expectations for this album were high and as far as the first few tracks were concerned, I was highly satisfied. The opening song has everything right. Please Forgive Me has solid soulful vocals, beautiful backup vocals, a catchy horn arrangement and a timely guitar solo that has nothing but a good ole’ country feeling to it. The twang of the country solo is something unique and unlike anything I have heard in previous releases.
 
The tracks following Please Forgive Me offer up a wide array musical influences. The track Good Enough caught me with its eloquent lyrics. With lyrics about life and the changes one goes through when trying to figure out one’s identity is something that everyone can relate to. Matched with the pumping organ playing in the background and the soothing backup vocals Good Enough is another well-rounded track. One of my favorite tracks on the album is The Test. This straight-ahead traditional ska instrumental was a throwback to Hepcat and a tribute to some of the instrumentals they would put together. I picture this song being performed on a small stage in a smoke-filled room. Simply great, the saxophone solo is the clinching element in the song.
 
With the exceptions of the aforementioned songs and the tracks Sorry Mama, The Runaround (which is a straight soul song a la Otis Redding with Temptations-like backups) and the final track Travel On, the album struggles to hold the momentum that was present in the early goings of the record. Tracks like Gone, Fatty Boom Boom!, and When I Die seem forced and act like fillers for an album that ran out of creativity. It is almost as if the group exhausted their muse and composed songs that have been heard over and over again. The remaining tracks lack the honesty and veracity that was heard in the beginning.
 
Though this album holds elements of promise from the get go, it lags as the tracks progress. The songs that are strong drive the album and therefore make it listenable. It should be noted that the tracks that are great truly are just that, great. That being said the tracks that are mediocre are mediocre at best. This album is a great effort, but it leaves too many holes for it to be a solid release.