"Good outdoor / driving music. Traditional rhythms with a refreshing lack of special effects. These are tunes that are new and original but sound like the ones you listened to when you were 18, driving with the top down and barefoot or outside playing frisbee. Struck By Lightning sounds a bit too Huey Lewis for my tastes. I hear a lot of influences - a bit of a Dire Straits, a bit of Neil Young, John Cougar Mellencamp, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Traveling Wilburys, Los Lobos, New Riders of the Purple Sage. This is a band whose is well-suited for music that avoids the techno grunge of the 90's and today. Somebody who appreciates the slide guitar but can't keep replaying all of the Lynrd Skynrd.
They are clearly a band that has a pronmising future for those who would like to listen to a more traditional sound in the current musical environment.
"
Struck by Brilliance
Mr. Eclectic | Ann Arbor, MI USA | 01/13/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"These guys are great. This is honest, from the heart tunes. Shows that maturity and experience does count in both writing and playing.
They don't sound like Johnny Cash, but the same feeling of I've lived it and the emotion goes straight to your soul is certainly there."
Why isn't this on the radio?
ST | 01/10/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"A great CD and fun to listen to. If you appreciate good solid guitar playing you will enjoy this CD. Love the track "Slip and Fall""
Awesome and Rockin!!
SJ | 01/05/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
""Struck By Lightning" rocks!! When you play it be prepared to move to the incredible rhythm! It is a great collection of fast and upbeat mixed with soulful melodies. It really is a cd for every kind of music taste of all ages. I highly recommend it."
Mutton Dressed as Lamb?
Mr. B | Selborne, England | 01/04/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I've given "Struck By Lightning" 5 stars because its appeal came as a complete surprise to me. I was given the album, having heard a few extracts before. Those extracts had seemed much too "country" for my tastes, so I was slightly fearful of having to say nice things about the complete product. I shouldn't have worried. Track 1, "Wide Open Skies", is a gentle and contemplative intro which leads into a full-on honky-tonk rocker. The pace of the album, and the succession of varying tempos in the 13 tracks, draw you in and make you appreciate Rockhill's control, and the very thoughtful production values of the work.
It's insulting to categorize bands by reference to others, but since few people will have heard of Rockhill it seems only fair to tell you what to expect. The music is in no way derivative but there are echoes of Hootie and the Blowfish and Spin Doctors in the confident breakaway guitars and rasping vocals of the faster numbers. Some of the more laconic tracks [like "Fool For You"] remind me of early Wilco, while the two contemplative closing tracks - "Stitch in Time" and "Bitter End" - have a patina of CSN&Y. Okay, insulting it may be, but that's not a bad provenance to be able to boast, in four very dissimilar but talented precursors.
The members of Rockhill are not exactly in the first flush of youth, but the word I use again is confident. They are four guys making good music, and having a heap of fun doing it. The fun shines through, and several of the tracks have a haunting, lasting quality. I really enjoyed "Struck By Lightning", and lovers of the jangling guitar and wide-open sound of the band's 'electric Americana' will be well rewarded by the album's surprising subtlety. While hearing it through for the first time, my over-riding thought was that they must be a really impressive live act, too. I really hope the album and the band get some wide recognition."
Track Listings (13) - Disc #1