On To The New

Alex has posted a review of Under The Table and Above The Sun, the big-label release from self-described Austin-via-Oregon “hick-rockers” Reckless Kelly.

He gives it a solid thumbs up, which doesn’t surprise me. It is a good effort, and the lyrics are definitely, as Alex writes, more “grown up” on this CD than the earlier ones.

I put the thing on the old stereo for a listen tonight, because I really haven’t listened to it much since I bought it shortly after the release.

Absence must make the heart grow fonder. I liked it then, but I like it better now.

Maybe I’m finally getting over the fact that Casey Pollock and Chris Schelske are long gone, and the band isn’t ever going to sound like they did on their first two CDs and at so many shows.

That’s been hard for me. I loved the BAND on those two CDs. Not so much for the lyrics, but for the music. The lyrics were good in those early efforts, of course, but Alex is right in saying that Willy Braun just writes more mature stuff now. But the music back then — wow. That sound defined what alt-country (no Texas abbreviation, just alt-country) should be — Casey wailing on the guitar in Son Volt fashion (listen sometime to the guitar riffs in RK’s “It’s All Over” and Son Volt’s “Live Free”), Cody and Willy harmonizing like only brothers can, with a little help on the high notes from Schelske, Cody blending in that sweet fiddle (and a mandolin sometimes), Schelske and Nazz laying down the rhythm. THAT was a sound unique to the Texas scene, and comparable to some of the really good stuff going on in the bigger alt-country scene (I think).

The sound now is… different, but not completely, if that makes any sense. There’s still harmony from Cody and Willy. But there’s a lot more Willy solo (again, not a bad thing, he’s got a more seasoned voice now, from years on the road), and no three-part harmony anymore (the old sound). There’s no Casey, although Bartlesville’s very own David Abeyta brings a great sound of his own (again, different). And the writing is probably a little better.

If I had never heard that band in its early days, I would call the current iteration one of the best things going in this state. Hell, I do that anyway.

But there are some days when I’m a bad music fan, and instead of appreciating the present, I wonder just where the band would be if the old crew had stuck together, and had gone further down the Millican path. I think it would have been really interesting. I should stress that I don’t mean that to reflect one way or the other on what they’re doing now.

It’s perhaps telling that my two favorite songs on this CD are probably “Everybody” and “Mersey Beat.” “Everybody” is a simple little song, but very interesting musically, with a lap steel and a Greek bouzouki making for a sound that’s very different from Millican. “Mersey Beat” was co-written by long-departed bass player Chris Schelske, sounded great when they played it live when he was still with the band, and still sounds great on the CD even absent his distinctive backing vocals.

They’ve gotten out the last of the old, and are fully on to the new. So I guess it’s probably about time for me to do the same.