Album – Trying to Never Catch Up – What Made Milwaukee Famous
Posted by admin on February 16th, 2006
- Band / Artist : What Made Milwaukee Famous
- Genre : Rock / Pop
- Sample Track Download : N/A
- Buy CD : Buy
- Buy Digital Download : iTunes
- Rating : 7 out of 10
What Made Milwaukee Famous? Errr Happy Days? No that wasn’t a question, that’s the name of this band from Texas and pretty good they are too.
The moment this album started, I thought it was the theme to Mission Impossible and then in comes a real retro sound, something akin to a Commodore Vic20 doing sliding scales and that’s all within the first 10 seconds. An eclectic mix, to say the least. Once the vocals come in however, things begin to settle down and the album truly begins. Track 1, “I Decide”, for me is one of the weaker tracks on the album, because once you hear the following track “Mercy Me”, the album really starts to come alive.
What Made Milwaukee Famous, has a real Radiohead sound to them, as is seemingly popular with many bands at the moment. But this isn’t just some Radiohead rehash, there is a real spark of freshness bubbling up from underneath. Track 3, “Almost Always Never”, is a beautiful example of pure infectious pop. Opening with a nice mellow intro and then simmering into a song that really grabs hold. The vocals in particular are subdued and at times haunting, with very Jeff Buckley overtones.
The remainder of the album seems to waver between infectious pop, which thankfully is the majority of the album and rambling rock, Track 9, “Short on Shields”, being a prime example. Usually my view of an album mellows over time, but with “Trying to Never Catch Up”, I liked what I always liked and the same for my dislikes.
So if that hasn’t confused you enough, what is my final verdict. Well this is a very accomplished outing, from a band that should definitely be out there on the global radar. Yes I didn’t like all of the tracks, but there was nothing that forced me to skip tracks, it’s just a some of the tracks are just much more to my liking.
Conclusion : If I would have heard 2 or 3, of any of the tracks from this album on the radio, I would have definitely picked up the CD. I expect to hear What Made Milwaukee Famous making a lot waves in 2006.