After a recent history of playing two hundred plus
live shows in the New Orleans area, The Good for Nothin’ Band has their act
honed to perfection. Their first studio release entitled Maniac World features
ten songs that are a cross-section of American music, relying primarily on the
jazz and blues idioms, but they have a freewheeling fluency that reaches far
beyond some stupefying imitation without spark or personality. The band is a
five piece with a trombonist and trumpet player and every instrument in this
band is charged with the business of accentuating melody and listening to the
surrounding players. The Good for Nothin’ Band is a group of exceptional
musicians, but they work together as one unit and never fail serving the song.
It begins beautifully with “Fishin’ for Stars”. The
lyrical imagery is evocative without drawing too much attention to itself and
the word choice is acutely tuned to the percussive needs of the track. The
slightly languid, mid-tempo sway benefit greatly from Brendan Bull’s drumming.
Vocalist Jon Roniger shines brightly on the album’s second song “DNA” which
rides a spot-on metaphor for everything its worth and draws out a nearly
raucous vocal from Roniger. The smart humor heard through the first two songs
comes out in a much bigger way on the album’s third song “Falling from Trees”,
but even here, the band never lays on the laughs with a dragline. This
songwriting hits all of the right musical notes, overplays, and finds it
lyrical measure in observing the peccadilloes of lives and human characters.
The lyrics throughout Maniac World have a particular shine for character, but
they capture an unique narrative voice that helps the outfit stand out.
Blues comes into play on the album’s title song.
There are plenty of hints on the album’s first quarter that the band would
excel if they turned to this form and their inevitable first effort in that
vein doesn’t disappoint. “It Is What It Is” packs an energetic buzz and really makes
an impact with its stripped down shuffle tempo and the horns practically scat
sing throughout the track. It’s difficult to adequately sum up just how much
the trombone and trumpet bring to the band’s sound, but this song is a perfect
illustration of its impact in full effect. The Good for Nothin’ Band gets a
small chance to shine instrumentally on the song “Romeo in Rags”. It’s a much
cleaner blues than before, more mournful, and the acoustic framework has a slow
moving grace that’s handled quite tastefully. “Snowing in New Orleans” is a
showcase of sorts for drummer Brendan Bull and the multiple percussion voices
he makes use of keep this track popping from the first bar onward. The energy
dissipates on the album’s final song. “One Last Call” is the best of all
possible endings for this release and Roniger throws himself wholeheartedly
into the album’s last smiling, but slightly woozy vocal.
Maniac World could have contented itself with
hitting some customary marks at an acceptable professional level and the band
would have a viable product to peddle at their live shows. Instead, the five
pieces show themselves to be serious musical artists with surprisingly broad
literary skills and an absolute command over the fundamentals of their musical
genre.
9 out of 10 stars
William Elgin III
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