Search - Donuts :: Monkey Wrench Gang

Crammed Full of Excellent Songs

F. Buckley | Philadelphia, PA | 01/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Reviewed by Andy Riggs, from Americana-UK.com



It's clear very early on, that The Donuts are not taking themselves that seriously - a quick glance at the personnel with J Bearclaw, Fathead, Peter Extravaganza and John Taint lays out the ground rules for this record. Added to this The Donuts aren't sugar coated or stuffed with jam, but crammed full of excellent songs, ideas and unusual hooks which touch Elvis Costello territory vocally and Midnight Oil thematically. This their third release in the last eighteen months so they're not short of ideas which is borne out by the variety in this 29 minute 12 song record. A quick read through the press release tells us that 'After 12 long months with no new album - a donuts-camp gap of glacial degree that's left more than just creditors and parole gimps wonderings where the Nuts had gone' we're told later..... 'We wanted to cash-in on the whole Live 8 thing' says front nut J. Bearclaw.. 'But we had no idea what the hell the guy was talking about, no way we could have done an interview on third world debt relief. And let's face it, the Boomtown Rats totally sucked'. Back to the music and having read all this I was pleasantly surprised by some catchy pop songs with attitude, that the Gallagher Bros could use to replace their impressions of John Lennon. First up is 'Soon' with a great riff carried along on the chorus 'Soon I Will Be Gone' - next up is the vary catchy 'Detective Con', followed by one the best songs on the record 'Maya Van Rossum's Blues' where we are in Midnight Oil country with its ecological message about pollution - with some clever lyrics 'Dehydrated birds, In the Oily Mud, Swab down their throats, In the rescue tub, The drowning coots, The gannets and the swans, No retirement, On Golden Pond'. This is followed by the title track where the Donuts carry on the pollution theme aimed at the loss of land and the natural environment in the Yukon & Alaska. Other highlights include the catchy 'Red from Mississippi'. There's a real urgency and variety in these 29 minutes, which is missing from so many records these days - my recommendation would be to check out The Donuts at your local patisserie. www.thedonuts.com



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