WINTERPILLS
All My Lovely Goners
You know that review I was going to write? The one where I reverted to Winterpills' Tuxedo of Ashes EP because the new album, All My Lovely Goners, isn't quite what Tuxedo was? Well, I ain't gonna write it. I'm not even one time through Goners and I'm floored! I thought Tuxedo just short of a masterpiece (still do, in fact) and unapproachable--- a one-time fluke. That's what I get for thinking.
You know what I think now? I think Winterpills are channeling the magic of folk/psych, bringing it into the 21st century. I think the ghosts of The Pozo-Seco Singers and We Five and The Mojo Men have somehow merged with the souls of the 'pills to create something new and yet old, something we have not heard yet have somehow heard before. I think All My Lovely Goners, had it been released when I was in college back in the sixties, would have rivaled Simon & Garfunkel and the aforementioned groups for dorm room dominance. In between blasts of The Beatles, The Stones and Bob Dylan, anyway.
There is something about their music which has me quite captivated: the perfect chord changes, maybe, or the perfect harmonies per song but definitely something that breaks through the white noise of today's overloaded music market. I do hear that late-Sixties flash, but it is way more than that. I know because it makes me want to laugh and call all my friends begging them to listen to it too, but I'm afraid because of what the reaction might be because nothing short of total acceptance will satisfy me and not liking this album as much as myself might just be a deal breaker. I have few enough friends left as it is.
Know what? I'm going to stop here and give you a link to their website, where you can find their music available for listening. Listen. Start with Pretty Girls, which sends shivers up my spine, the sound is so retro to me, then skip to The Sun Is Alone, a song so beautiful that it just about brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it. I tell you, this is not just a good album, it's way beyond that. I love it. I love it a lot. A whole lot. In fact, I guaran-damn-tee it will end up in my Top Five albums of this year and has a strong shot to be Numero Uno. A damn strong shot.
What the hell is wrong with this world? All My Lovely Goners should have been a huge hit right out of the box. When I was in the record business, we would not have allowed an album this good to die. Not that it's dying. It's brand new. Here's your chance to get in on the ground floor of something incredible. You're welcome.
Frank O. Gutch Jr.
