The Underlings - Operational Excellence cd

  My bro Ed sent me his bands new(ish) CD the other day and I was pretty stoked. Definately much more mainstream than anything we ever did with Garden Weasel but that doesn't mean it doesn't rock. I know it's a bad word but indie rock is the first thing that comes to mind, but these guys are no music virgins trying to make it big with some pop record. This is solid rock and roll with a lot of influences and a wide variety of tunes. There's a sort of medium intensity review over at another blog, Fire Drills, that compares them to early Cheap Trick. I don't know too much about Cheap Trick except that our classic rock station plays that live version of "I Want You To Want Me" way too much. The first tune on here immediately got stuck in my head, which to me means it's a damn good catchy tune, but I'm psychotic enough that sometimes getting things stuck in my head is not a good thing. I like all the tunes on here, all but two were written by Ed and actually the two tunes written by the bass player almost lean into a melodic punky hardcore thing.  I've known Ed for over 20 years now and one thing that has always been clear is his love of music and it shows on this record.  For the first time ever I got a chance to hear his "nice" voice, which translates to some really soulful singing. So what I may be saying with this is that I may be a little biased and you in fact may have a totally different impression, which is okay. I got the okay from Ed to post this because as he said they will probably never sell out of it (maybe you will dude) and this is just a good way to get it out there at least to the 5 or 6 who read and listen at MR.  You can get this for yourself at their label Daily Records.  Enjoy. Born In A Boxcar Pure Genius Abandoned Baby, Please Runnin' From The Cops Victim (I Only Wanna Be A) Waiting For The Bomb Plastic-Coated Fairy Getaway Shake

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5pgfQU586Q&hl=en&fs=1]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoAqSd2_P6o&hl=en&fs=1]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3DMde9OewQ&hl=en&fs=1]