Search - :: The Raisins

Fame should have followed

D. Wyatt | 09/19/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I first saw the raisins live when they opened for Adrian Belew. They were described to me as a 'bar band', but it took only two or three bars to dispel that notion. They played songs I'd never heard before with fire, wrote lyrics insulting all the right people and genuinely kicked my @$$ back in in the seat. I had never heard a band so strong as players, singers and songwriters. Simply put, it was the raisins who taught me that great bands didn't always find fame and fortune.



The album starts with guitarist Rob Fetters little hit "Fear is Never Boring" a slashing cynical rocker with brains to spare and a great hook. But that's just the opening line. "The Bends" chronicles the travails the life of a non-famous road band with hooks and wit Spinal Tap might envy. The raisins version of the Stones classic "19th Nervous Breakdown" has a manic energy that drives their version clear past the original. "Let Us Prey" has an acid edge that just drips.



In short, this is a great album, mixing R&B, acid rock and power pop with lyrics clever enough to have been penned by Ray Davies or Frank Zappa.



The thing about panning for gold is you have to go through a lot of rocks to get a nugget. No rocks here. This record is pure gold."