Easy Beat

iTunes Review

Easy Beat is the wild tunefulness of the White Album and the momentous pop of the Beach Boys as re-envisioned by five friends in a Philadelphia basement. There is, of course, a long line of bands who have borrowed liberally from the Beatles’ palette — what makes Dr. Dog so deserving of our attention? It’s all in the details: slapback drums with a woody, homemade thud; soulful vocals that crack in the climaxes; real piano, not the kind you hear on the radio, but the kind that Richard Manuel used to play. For all its imaginative arrangements and expert songwriting, Easy Beat is rough around the edges, and there it triumphs. Beatles confections like Matthew Sweet’s Girlfriend or Teenage Fanclub’s Bandwagonesque now sound dated by their slick studio sheen, but Dr. Dog borrowed from the timeless, homespun spirit of the Bands’ Basement Tapes when they recorded Easy Beat. The album’s centerpiece is “Say Something,” a classic rock slow dance that begins with the rhythm of a soul song, and ends in a theatrical crescendo worthy of Bowie. As ingenious and distinct as any band you could name, Dr. Dog has absorbed its influences and matched them with Easy Beat.