By: David de Young
 John Solomon of Friends like These - Photo by Anna Lee (click for full size) |
Personell: John Solomon - Guitar/vocals |
I'm glad I took my sweet time getting this review written. For one thing, I've been crazy busy. (I do have a life and a full time job.) And secondly, Friends Like These already more than respectable CD has grown on me considerably since I received it in the mail a few days before I saw them live for the first time on Friday. The first couple of times I heard the CD, "I Love You" (street date February 4th) it got lost in a sea of sound with several other new CD's I was listening to at the time. A week later, it's definitely standing up on its own. I feel more comfortable with the songs, and I'm nodding my head along with them in more than just recognition as I finish off this rambling piece of prose.
I arrived at the 400 Bar just before Friends Like These took the stage. Just two bartenders were serving an already almost full house by 10:30 forcing me to listen to their entire first song, standing at the bar while waiting for my drink. "Afternoon Funeral" opened the set. The song, which also starts out their CD, begins with ringing and attention commanding down-stroked guitars. Just as the song ended, my drink was delivered strong enough to be worth the wait.
Devoting my full attention to the band from that point on, two things that I immediately noticed about Friends Like These were their exquisite harmonies and their honed song-writing skill. Both approach an almost Brian Wilson-like complexity at times. These harmonies are ladled on top of guitar lines the Beach Boys approached on their Pet Sounds album. It's worthwhile to note that the opening song "Afternoon Funeral" is a slow one. You've simply gotta hand it to a band that opens their set as powerfully as FLT did with a veritable dirge.
Friends like These front man John Solomon wears a frumpy Salvation Army style wardrobe complete with ties. His bass player also wears a tie. The whole band sports floppy mop top style haircuts except for the drummer whose haircut can only be called more "serious." (There. I've gotten my frivolous fashion commentary out of the way in one short paragraph.)
I don't like labeling bands any more than bands like being labeled. That being said, you could call FLT is a Brit-pop band (Sgt. Pepper era Beatles at times), but you cannot simply dismiss them as such. There's something more going on here than initially meets the ear. The songs are well-crafted for sure. Their pacing is never rushed. Though nothing about this band makes my jaw drop, at the same time there isn't much here for me to take issue with. There are points on the album and live that I wish John Solomon's vocals were stronger. At times it seems he is holding something back and, I for one would like to see what that is. Other guitar player and core member Adam Swittick (wearing a Disco cures cancer t-shirt for this show) also contributes strong vocals on the CD and live he and Solomon switch off on lead duties.
FLT's second song "Burning Sun" saw the band picking up the tempo a bit, albeit in a minor key with a slight surf punk vibe. "Burning Sun" reminded me a bit of early Cure ("A Forest," etc.) (But I amuse myself as when I look at my recent live show notes everything seems to be reminding me of early Cure and the Vapours lately.) Fuzzy guitars are prominent here and help to define the sound. On CD, the fuzzy guitar on this song is perhaps just a bit too prominent at times. But live the mix of guitars was just right.
FLT's set Friday was consistent enough that you could have stepped into the 400 Bar at any point, heard just one song and you would have found yourself nodding along and turning to your neighbor to say, "These guys are good." But although their songs are unique, they don't stand apart from one another enough at first or second listen even if they do start to stick with you after that. "Heaven," which came third in the live set is definitely one of the standout tracks on their CD and is impressive live. If the band were to release a single from the album, that's the one this listener would pick.
Conveniently perhaps, Friends Like These pretty much played their CD straight through at their release show. Although this may make a reviewer's job easier, it's not always a good idea. But as FLT's CD is well-laid out as far as pacing goes, it worked well Friday night.
FLT dedicated the final song of the set, a cover of Elvis Costello's "Radio Radio" to Clear Channel because, according to Solomon, "We love 'em, and you love 'em too." It was a fitting song to close with (recall the lyric "and radio is in the hands of such a bunch of fools who want to anesthetize the way that you feel") perhaps learned in response to Clear Channel re-arranging the gig and changing the price tag in order to get the Twinemen on the bill.
But in all fairness, regardless of how you feel about Clear Channel, everything turned out well in the end. Friends Like These got perhaps a better timeslot as they didn't have to go head to head with 12 Rods (who took the stage at the Turf Club at 12:15.) And the Twinemen, bless 'em, put on a great show too for what I was able to catch of it.
Location Info:
400 Bar
Artist Info: Friends Like These
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