Search - Rouch Bros :: Take Flight

Embodies the spirit of free-range rock `n roll

loce_the_wizard | Lilburn, GA USA | 06/16/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Roach Brothers are to be confused with the Rouch Brothers and vice versa. It's the same outfit, fronted by a pair of brothers, Terry and Jamie, and joined by bassist Rick Maxwell and guitarist Karl Corts for "Take Flight." Try to imagine, if you will, what sort of music these guys are churning out from a studio on made on a farm way the hell away from big markets, major radio stations, or packed rock clubs. Odds are your guess will not be on the money.



"Take Flight" lumbers across the musical landscape, digging up all sorts of vintage sounds, like a big-ass John Deere ripping across the fields as the subsoil is flung skyward. The band touches on all sorts of rock icons, sounding like ZZ Top, the Stones, even dashes of Seatrain and Beefheart, something from Motown, and, yes, a bit country here and there.



But this collection of songs about such treasured themes as cars, romance, drinking, bad luck, and being lazy is not exactly derivative as much as it is interpretative. This music embodies the spirit of free-range rock `n roll, free from the corporate kiss of death, and powered with guitar riffs galore, wordplay that sometimes strains a bit but that typically rewards the careful listener, cool percussion and doses of keyboard, and lots of variety.



The twin guitars and additional vocalists really flesh out the sound more than that found on "Big Load," the other highly recommened CD that preceded this one from the Royal Center, Indiana.



There are some rough patches here and there: sometimes the vocals are a bit too strained, the sound a bit harsh, the eccentric side a bit over the top (Macho Girl). But considering the subject matter, just maybe that's no problem. Regardless, just try keeping the volume turned low on Just My Luck, S**t List, Crawl, or Like Me. As Feta Kuli might put it, "It no possible." And a toast to the Logans just up the road in Winder, Georgia, for helping get this cool music released via their Backburner label.

"