The Shackeltons

Pretty much any band you could name has people who love it, people who hate it, and people who fall somewhere in the middle. It's the way music works. Heck, it's the way food works. I'm sure you can find people who hate sushi, as well as people who adore sushi and eat it every day. It's not bad or good, it's a nice tribute to the variety of life.

That being said, the Shackeltons are going to be adored by some, and not appreciated by others. Sure, that's fine. Probably the key to figure out where you fall is to listen to a few sample tracks. What you hear is what you're going to get.

You can make all sorts of comparisons - early Pixies, early U2, maybe early Doors. The key here is "early" :) This is definitely a "bar band". I can very easily imagine going out drinking with friends on a Friday night in a crowded bar, the walls shaking with the drums, the lead singer alternately talking to or screaming at the crowd. We feel his angsty anger and sing along, or we let the poetry-speak roll over us as we hang out and chat about what went on during the week. The beat gets us up dancing when we're in the mood.

Are the lyrics worthy of poetry awards? Not really. Are you going to love his voice? Well, I actually enjoy Stevie Nick's voice and Tom Petty's voice so again there's something for everyone out there. I agree you're not going to play his shouts during a romantic dinner, but if you're up for a high-energy night with friends it could fit the bill perfectly.

If you somehow ignore his screams / pleas and listen to the other musicians, they do a quite reasonable job. They play together tightly and while their melodies are not Rush-intricate, they can be very catchy. I think if you substituted in any other singer over the band that a lot more reviewers would enjoy this work. But again, there are a segment of people out there who enjoy this kind of emotional singing / shouting, and this is the band for them.

Is the CD rough? Sure, but most first releases are rough. Also, I'm sure this catches only a hint of their live energy, which I imagine must be pretty great. I can really imagine dancing around a bar to this kind of music. It's not sit-in-living-room music. It's be-out-with-friends-having-a-blast music. So maybe in that sense it's hard for many people to review while sitting in front of their computer listening via iTunes. Maybe it'd be easier to review blasting down the highway in your car, pounding on the steering wheel as you zoom :)

I normally don't review music CDs because it is so subjective. However, I do have over 8,500 songs in my iTunes library (all legal) so I very actively listen to a huge range of musical genres. I found this music to be great for certain situations, if you like that style of music. I think they have potential to become even better as they go - but again, in their genre. Is that a bad thing? I don't think so. For people who just don't like this style of music, I doubt you will change your mind. For people who enjoy this type of rough dance music, I think you'll be quite pleased.

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