DRIVE LIKE JEHU “Yank Crimes”
You know what’s great? The occasional musical reality check. For the past 10 months or so, punk/hardcore/emo has been utterly fixated with the band COHEED AND CAMBRIA, including myself, holding at times, such opinions that their originality could not be matched. So it’s incredibly humbling to get a re-issue of a DRIVE LIKE JEHU cd, one that came out more than a decade ago, that smacks of, “I guess COHEED AND CAMBRIA really aren’t doing something all that new.” “Yank Crimes” is a pretty thrilling release that’s only held back by the fact that it tires the listener our before all of the thrills can be sapped in. There’s nine original songs pertaining to this release, and three added tunes from an out of print 7″ The end result is 12 songs that last for almost 70 minutes, which begins mentally draining to sit through, as DRIVE LIKE JEHU hardly qualify at easy-going background music. But back to the better things to talk about – the music on here so perplexing, I tend to feel like a stranded wanderer in the desert, fully aware of the circling vultures above. This is especially apparent on the fourth tune, “Luau,” where the songs goes for a good 10 minutes. I’m not positive if the songs on here have been re-mastered, but the sound quality is excellent, and that’s most noticeable in the clarity of the percussion. Of course, when you have current production guru/boy-wonder, Mark Trombino, in your band, none of that is surprising in any way. For those previously unaware of this band, DRIVE LIKE JEHU play an entertaining, punk-indierock combo, that’s fairly fast, and jagged. It’s not the most riveting sound in the world, but it’s far from dull. Extra points come from the fact that ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT’S frontman, John Reis, plays lead guitar on here. Okay, I’m out of things to say on this…it’s just good.
Swami
