I started Best Album of the Day almost two years ago and I think someone has been reading my posts, learning my likes and dislikes, and doing everything they can to get their album listed on this site. His name is Danny George Wilson. His original alt-country band is called Grand Drive and he's also done some solo work.Danny & The Champions Of The World is the self-titled album by DGW and a bunch of other musicians from various English groups including Brakes, Goldrush (fantastic band!), Electric Soft Parade, and more. It's basically everything I could ask for in a single collection of songs: Great melodies, beautiful orchestration, desperate vocals, natural sounding acoustics, sonic experimentation that doesn't distract from the whole of the song, and a general "big" sound without sounding overwhelming.
There are hints of Golden Smog (many hints actually), Faces/Ronnie Lane, Big Star, Wilco, The Byrds, Bob Dylan, The Beatles (note the sitar work), and even some John Denver. Trust me, it's cool and you'll love it. You know a band is great when the first influence they list on their MySpace page is The Muppets, the greatest band of all time.
I'm marking this album for consideration as one of the albums of the year which we'll publish next January. It's that good. Listen to "Red Tree Song" and you'll know why I love this one.
And for some useless trivia, DGW's other band, Grand Drive, was once being considered for a record deal by Death Row Records' Suge Knight. Yes, they are a rock/alt-country band and are not hip-hop whatsoever. Amazing.
Even more amazing is that at the moment Death Row's Tupac Shakur was killed, he was listening to Grand Drive's "Tell It Like It Is" in his limo. The band was even invited to play at his funeral which they declined due to prior engagements.
Now you know, and knowing is half the battle (~GI JOE).
Listen to this album
I've been listening to this one for the last couple days. There are some interesting musical elements and arrangements along the way, but for some reason it's difficult for me to stay engaged from beginning to end. I think my musical tastes are more "melody driven" and that may not be the main focus of this album. There's a lot of depth to the music though, which I appreciate... and I like the use of less commonly used instruments like sitar.
ReplyDeleteYeah you almost have to approach this one with a "rock opera" type attitude. It's got an experimental feel to it.
ReplyDeleteZac - check out Danny George Wilson's "The Famous Mad Mile" album. I think it's more up your alley - more folky with some "EmmyLou-like" harmonies. It's a great album.
ReplyDelete"Old Soul" is a nice tune. Let me know what you think.
Hmmm... yeah I like a lot of "The Famous Mad Mile", although comparing the two, I find "Danny and The Champions of the World" more interesting. "The Famous Mad Mile" is a nice collection of songs that tend to be somewhat predictable, but in a comfortably familiar sort of way.
ReplyDeleteThe "Danny and The Champions of the World" album seems to take more sonic twists and turns, which makes it more interesting to me... I think the only thing holding me back from raving about it is Danny's voice... sorry Danny.